NAMPA — In an observation of the Idaho Lottery’s 36th year, Tuesday saw its annual dividend checks presented at the College of Western Idaho (CWI) to benefit facilities at public schools, colleges and universities.

“This is money that comes from all over the state, some from out of state, but what’s important is that those dollars actually translate into tangible projects,” Andrew Arulanandam, who was appointed as director of the Idaho Lottery by Gov. Brad Little last September, said.

He cited examples of such recently funded projects ranging from locker room updates in Horseshoe Bend schools to pedestrian walkways at the University of Idaho.

While this year’s dividend — $75 million — falls short of last year’s record-breaking $84 million, it is still the third-largest in the lottery’s three-and-a-half-decade history.

“This year, the Idaho Lottery created five new millionaires. We could’ve had a sixth, but the $1 million raffle winner didn’t claim their prize,” the lottery commission’s chairman, Craig Corbett, said. “That $1 million has been added back to this year’s dividend total.”

Dividend checks for $46.875 million and $28.125 million were presented respectively to the state Department of Education and Department of Administration, whose Permanent Building Fund covers updates to college campuses — like those currently being done at CWI.

About 23 cents from every dollar spent on a lottery ticket goes toward the dividend, and nearly $1.3 billion has been allocated to those departments since 1990. Of the total, 62.5% goes to the school district facility fund and 37.5% to the permanent building fund, in accordance with House Bill 521 which was passed last year.

“Our lottery is done with the utmost ethics and to give the people of Idaho confidence that when they participate in the lottery, their money is going toward obviously an opportunity to have a winning ticket, but also so that we can optimize those critical needs that we have in the state of Idaho,” Little said.