Lottery officials report higher transfers after jackpot runs, credit debit-card rollout and push vending-machine proviso

South Carolina Lottery Director Dolly Garfield and CFO Anne Huffman told the House Higher Education Subcommittee on Feb. 10 that the agency’s year-to-date results are stronger than recent years, driven largely by several national jackpot runs and the new ability for retailers to accept debit cards.

"Since inception, we have transferred to you all $9,250,000,000 to be used for educational purposes," Garfield told the committee, framing the Lottery as a long-standing source of education funding. She described the agency as a ‘‘traditional’’ lottery that sells terminal draw and scratch games and does not operate iLottery or sportsbook products.

CFO Anne Huffman presented the financials: year-to-date revenues through December are up about $131,000,000 (11.6%) compared with the prior year. Huffman attributed a large portion of the transfer gains to three major jackpot runs this fiscal year — including runs that reached $1.8 billion, $1.98 billion and $1.7 billion — that together generated roughly $53,000,000 in transfer value to education year-to-date.

Huffman said the commission has transferred $323,000,000 so far this fiscal year, up $46.8 million (17%) from the same point last year, and noted the agency’s full-year estimate with the Board of Economic Advisors stands at $518.2 million after an upward revision from earlier projections. The commission set a conservative initial FY27 transfer estimate of $495.2 million, citing jackpot unpredictability.

The session included detailed analysis of a June 30 proviso (Proviso 3.8) that allowed retailers to accept debit cards beginning July 1. Huffman said about 57% of the Lottery’s roughly 4,030 retailers now accept debit (approximately 2,305 stores). Comparing an active-retailer cohort of 3,422 locations, retailers accepting debit were up 14% year-over-year while non-debit retailers were up about 7%. The commission estimated debit acceptance accounted for roughly $48.5 million in additional sales (an 11.6% lift in transfer value for the period measured) and about $11.6 million in additional transfer value to education to date.

Committee members raised concerns about fraud and household finances. Garfield characterized most fraud cases as local resale or small-ticket incidents and described an active security team that investigates such reports. On household impacts, commissioners acknowledged uncertainty and said the agency is still analyzing player behavior.

Lottery staff also proposed allowing instant-ticket vending machines to shorten convenience-store lines. Huffman estimated a vending unit would cost about $20,000, with a worst-case payback under 9.5 months and an estimated first-year additional contribution to education of roughly $1,000,000 per deployment scale described. The Lottery said its board supports asking for a proviso and a companion bill to permit vending machines; several committee members encouraged pursuing a proviso during the budget cycle.

Director Garfield cautioned that any new state-run casino or competing gaming product could affect Lottery sales and offered to provide comparative data from neighboring states for committee members to consider. The committee did not take a formal vote on a vending-machine proviso during the session but directed staff to provide additional information.