Idaho Lottery revenues are forecast to be down by 2 percent this year, state lottery Director Jeff Anderson told legislative budget writers this morning, because to date in fiscal year 2011, only 6 percent of advertised Powerball jackpots have exceeded $100 million. In the last three years, 26 percent have been higher than that mark, which drives sales. "Consequently our net margin will decrease slightly, because draw games are our highest-margin products," Anderson said. "Nonetheless, we do forecast being able to deliver the $37 million in dividends promised for fy 2011, due to the unclaimed prize fund and our rigorous management of expenses."

Here's the oddity in the unclaimed prize fund: "This year we had a $1 million Powerball ticket go unclaimed," Anderson told JFAC. "When that ticket went unclaimed, it goes into the unclaimed prize fund. It was somewhat of an unusual event, that someone would win a million dollars and not claim their ticket, but it is what happened this year."

The result: A better budget picture for the lottery, the bulk of whose proceeds are divided evenly between schools and the state's permanent building fund. A portion also goes to the school bond levy equalization fund.

Typically, the lottery's unclaimed prize fund collects about $2 million to $3 million a year, Anderson said, mainly made up of small, $2 or $3 wins in Powerball drawings in which the tickets don't win the big jackpot. "They just don't think they won, so they don't claim their ticket," Anderson said. "That's typically where most of the unclaimed prizes come from."