The latest tally for the Education Lottery Fund stands at $628 million after the North Carolina Education Lottery (NCEL) made its third transfer for the current fiscal year.

The NCEL transfer of $97.8 million to the fund is for sales for the third quarter (Jan. 1 March 31) of the fiscal year. This is the NCEL's largest quarterly transfer since its inception, according to a news release.

Gross sales for the quarter were $315 million, making this the highest quarter gross sales to date.

"We are incredibly proud to have raised this amount of money for education in just two years of operations," said Tom Shaheen, NCEL executive director. "All of us at the lottery are ecstatic that our efforts to increase sales are really starting to pay off, but the real payoff that all North Carolinians should be happy to see is the return to education."

The NCEL made the electronic transfer to the Office of State Budget and Management to be disbursed to these beneficiary programs: More at Four; class size reduction; school construction; and college scholarships for need-based students.

The Department of Public Instruction will manage the distribution of the funds for all the beneficiary programs except the college scholarships, which will be handled by the North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority.

Since inception March 30, 2006, the NCEL has surpassed $1.9 billion total gross sales. To date, sales are more than $114 million ahead of this same time last year.