The Virginia Lottery announced Wednesday that $934 million in fiscal year 2024 sales profits will benefit K-12 public education, a record amount. The total amount it collected for the fiscal year that ended June 30 was more than $5.5 billion.

The Lottery’s total proceeds to public education stands at $13.6 billion, and the agency continues Virginia’s year-over-year sales increases since the pandemic. Last year, the Virginia Lottery earned $867.4 million from lottery sales, an increase from $779.6 million in 2022.

“Over the course of my administration, we have been able to achieve record funding for K-12 education, allowing for increased opportunities in the classroom, said Gov. Glenn Youngkin in a statement on Wednesday. “I am so thrilled these record profits will help provide the necessary support and resources for Virginia’s students,” the governor said, noting that about 10% of the state’s K-12 education budget stems from Virginia Lottery profits.

Youngkin, along with Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera, said the lottery helps to support various aspects of Virginia’s K-12 education, including special education, career and technical learning, and early reading intervention.

Guidera thanked lottery employees and expressed that their work helps set students up for success outside the classroom.

“It is preparing every single graduate of our K-12 schools to be ready for life, and that means preparing them to be productive members of our economy, to be informed and engaged citizens in our democracy, and to be engaged, thoughtful and good neighbors in our communities,” Guidera said.

The announcement of the lottery’s sizable profits comes after some convenience stores shut downVirginia Lottery sales briefly in April in protest to the ban on skill games, which are still illegal in the state after a lengthy campaign to lift the ban and protracted deliberation in the legislature.

Virginia Lottery Director Khalid Reede Jones said in the past fiscal year, the agency paid $4.2 billion in prizes to lottery participants, and $142 million to retail partners, while doing so with an expense ratio of 3.8%.

In his remarks to the governor, Jones said “the only thing I can promise is that we are endeavoring to make fiscal year 2025 even bigger, better and greater than this year.”

This story originally appeared at VirginiaMercury.com.