Where does the Hoosier Lottery money go

From Powerball to Mega Millions, Hoosiers everywhere love to play the lottery. Folks this week are buying tickets in hopes of becoming the nation’s newest multi-millionaire – but just where does all that money go after the winnings are disbursed?

This Saturday, May 7, the estimated Powerball Jackpot is $415 million. With the stakes so high, we decided to follow the money.

It turns out, Hoosier Lottery “transfers its surplus revenues to the State Treasurer’s office,” per Carrie Stroud, Certified Public Accountant and Chief of Staff of Hoosier Lottery. Those funds are then deposited into the accounts of the Police and Firefighters’ Pension Relief Funds, Teachers’ Retirement Funds and Build Indiana Fund.

In total, Indiana has received more than $242.4 million in 2015: $30 million for Police and Firefighter Pensions, $30 million dollars for Teachers’ Retirement Funds and $182.4 million for the Build Indiana Fund.

The Build Indiana Fund helps pay for projects throughout the state. In the past, here in St. Joseph County, the Military Park Development, Old Courthouse Restoration and Juvenile Justice Center received support.

Today the Build Indiana Fund goes mostly to local communities for excise tax replacement. This means things like parks, roads and other local infrastructure projects benefit. As well, Hoosiers benefit from getting breaks on things like registering your car that would be more expensive without lottery revenues.