The New Mexico Lottery says it has provided more than a half billion dollars for education since starting in 1996.
The lottery's latest annual report says it generated about $462 million from 1996 through the 2012 fiscal year for a program that pays for college tuition of New Mexico students.
Almost $67 million went for public school construction from 1996 to 2001, and then the law was changed to direct all lottery proceeds to the scholarship program.
About 82,600 students have received lottery-financed scholarships from the fall of 1997 through the spring 2012 semester, and about 38,900 had graduated.
About 17,300 students at two-year and four-year colleges in New Mexico received a lottery scholarship last year.
The scholarship program is projected to run short of money in 2014-2015.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.