According to figures released on Sunday, Miph'al Hapayis, Israel's state lottery, had a record income of 3.94 billion shekels in 2008, according to News 1. The figure is 93 million shekels or 2.4 percent more than the lottery took in during 2007 and 38 million shekels higher than the target set by the lottery's directors. The lottery's operating costs were seven million shekels or ten percent less than in 2007.
Miph'al Hapayis invested 3.1 billion shekels in community projects last year. Of that three quarters of a billion were for community welfare projects and 340 million were for the construction of classrooms and parks. Another 355 million shekels were earmarked for libraries, youth centers and programs to put computers in schools in more than 250 localities. Thirty-million shekels were budgeted for scholarships and 18 were set aside for cultural and artistic programs.
The lottery paid out 2.3 billion shekels in winnings, including 41 prizes of a million shekels or more.