The establishment of the state lottery first appeared as a question during the November 1969 election and was overwhelmingly approved by voters by a 81.5 percent, ranking it one of the largest in New Jersey’s history.

The lottery started out as a weekly game with 2,000 ticket agent locations statewide December 1970. The first millionaire drawing was held March 1971 when the annuity pay out of $50,000 was awarded to a West Caldwell couple.

Throughout the course of the 70s and 80s, players saw the birth of some of the most popular games still in existence today. The first televised state lottery drawing was broadcast in January 1977 with former Miss New Jersey Hela Young calling the winning numbers.

Since its launch, over $15.6 billion in lottery funds have been dedicated to various programs including education and veterans on a broad spectrum.

"When the legislation was created it was decided that money would go towards K-12, as well as higher education. The funding doesn’t just cover one project rather it collaborates with other revenue," said Dominick DeMarco, spokesman for the New Jersey Lottery.

Just K-12 alone, between $10-12 billion has been allocated for educational purposes, according to DeMarco. Areas such as scholarships and nutrition programs are assisted.

As for higher education the lottery supports the New Jersey Council of County Colleges, the coordinating organization for the state’s 19 community colleges that provides residents with a high quality education at a practical cost, explained DeMarco.

Contributions are also made to the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority, which provides families with financial and informational resources to help students pursue education after they graduate high school. And the Equal Opportunity Program, which helps those students who are educationally and economically challenged achieve a college education, that may otherwise be unattainable.

The Department of Military and Veteran’s Affairs also sees a share of the lottery’s money in the way of keeping veteran’s homes open and operating. The over 37,000 people with disabilities are also aided via contributions the lottery makes to the Division of Developmental Disabilities.

Fiscal year 2007 saw sales generated into $823.3 million in funding roughly translating about 36 cents of every dollar.

Many Lottery enthusiasts at the Super Mart, located on Mountain View Boulevard in Wayne, for the most part, play on a daily basis. And employees at the store said they’ve been noticing an influx of players.

"I don’t know, maybe it’s the poor economy bringing more people out in hopes of winning big money," the owner said.

One particular gentleman admits he plays seven days a week. When asked what happens to the money generated by the lottery, he said he didn’t know, but proposed a note worthy question.

"OK if the money is going towards different state programs than why are my taxes going up every year?" he asked.

Responding to the question, DeMarco stated that the lottery was designed to help out not replace.

"Keep in mind even if all the money let’s say was given to education it still wouldn’t move the needle at all if any," stated DeMarco.

Retailers earn about five percent of Lottery ticket sales in the way of commissions. Last year close to $135.5 million was turned over by the Lottery to support chain stores, supermarkets, and convenience stores.