CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -The state lottery is bringing in more money than ever before.

Lottery Commission Executive Director Rick Wisler said lottery tickets contributed a record $262.3 million in revenues to the state this fiscal year, which ended in June.

The sum is $34.3 million higher than last year and went well beyond what anyone had projected. Wisler attributes the increase to the higher-priced scratch tickets and two very high Powerball jackpots.

Last October, the state introduced a $20 scratch ticket. In its first eight months, the ticket generated $22.7 million in sales, Wisler said.

“There’s no doubt about it: the higher the price of the ticket, the higher your sales will go,” Wisler said. “We’ve shown that over the years.”

The total breaks down to an average of $262 spent per year on lottery tickets per adult in New Hampshire.

“Every day, people are asking if we have anything new,” said Emily Woolf Vallier, owner of Talbot Street Variety in Manchester.

The Candia Road store offers 32 scratch ticket games, from $1 “4 Leaf Luck” to $20 “Solid Gold.”

Lottery officials “have made things more vibrant” by adding new games, she said.

Vallier also reports that crowds pick up when the multistate Powerball jackpots surpass the $100 million and $200 million mark.

During the state’s last fiscal year, Powerball enjoyed its two largest payouts. A $365 million jackpot was won Feb. 18 while a $340 million payout was made Oct. 19, 2005. Another jackpot for $224.2 million on April 20 ranks as the seventh highest, according to Powerball’s Website.

“Powerball (in New Hampshire) was up 47 percent over the prior year and it was all because of the jackpots,” Wisler said. “That’s something we can’t bank on because we don’t know if the jackpot will roll over.”

But two out of every three dollars in lottery revenue comes from scratch tickets, adding up to almost $176.5 million, nearly 10 percent higher than the prior year.

“It’s immediate gratification,” Vallier said.

The record haul will benefit schools, which receive about $79.5 million from the lottery profits.

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Information from: New Hampshire Union Leader, http://www.unionleader.com

AP-ES-08-13-06 1100EDT