Today, it is increasingly difficult for states to adequately satisfy the demand for well-funded and quality public services, such as K-12 education by relying exclusively on traditional, broad-based taxes for fiscal support. State sponsored lotteries are an increasingly popular, non-traditional revenue stream for public education. There is in many cases, however, a gap between their promoted benefit to public K-12 schools and the actual fiscal support they provide. This article examines the efficiency of 42 U.S. state lotteries and the District of Columbia in transferring funds to public education programs. Historical and geographic trends are identified that have influenced the design of state lottery revenue allocation policies. (Contains 3 tables and 21 endnotes.)