The state lottery has received an award for growing its contribution to education.

The award was presented by the Public Gaming Research Institute and recognizes a 18.9 percent increase in money given to education from fiscal 2008 to 2009, the highest among the nation's lotteries.

Since the first ticket was sold in March 2006, the lottery has transferred more than $1.1 billion to education programs and priorities. The law that created the lottery specified four programs that would receive the money. THey are pre-kindergarten for at-risk four year olds, class size reduction in grades K-3, school construction and college scholarships for needy students.