STATEWIDE — Colorado players lost out on last week’s mega jackpots, but our state still wins because of where state lottery earnings go, in our case, the great outdoors!

Trying your luck at the lottery in Colorado puts money towards the outdoors. In fact, a substantial amount of lottery proceeds directly supports the environment and outdoor recreation.

“Our beneficiaries really really really are the biggest winners, Great Outdoors Colorado, Conservation Trust Fund, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and the BEST Program, Building Excellence Schools Today, those are our beneficiaries, and we had such tremendous sales during this last run that all of those folks will be doing well because of this,” Colorado Lottery Director Tom Seaver said.

Like many others the lockdown hit the lottery hard, but they’re bouncing back.

“From the time that the big jackpot roll of happened, which was January 2 through January 22 when they were one, we had sales of over $33 million for just Powerball and Mega million, and that translates to a little over $13 million for our beneficiaries,” Seaver said. “So in just one month, we were able to really contribute to those good causes.”

Colorado’s lottery is the only one in the world whose proceeds are completely dedicated to the outdoors.

“The constitution is where the guidance comes from for those funds. 50% of our proceeds go to Great Outdoors Colorado, they have a cap and once they reach their cap any spill over goes to the BEST fund so that’s 50%, then 40% goes to the Conservation Trust Fund and they allocate money across the state of Colorado based on population,” Seaver added. “All 64 counties benefit from the Conservation Trust Fund, and then 10% goes to Colorado Parks and Wildlife and they obviously maintain our state parks and run our wildlife conservation programs and many other good things.”

So take a look around and be assured we’re all winners here.