This Day in Georgia History: June 29, 1993

On this day in 1993, the Georgia Lottery began. In the early 90s, Governor Zell Miller campaigned for a state lottery which would fund education. In 1991, Georgia’s constitution was amended to designate lottery funds could only be used for education. After being ratified by voters in 1992, most of the lottery funds went to fund the HOPE scholarship. The HOPE scholarship provided tuition assistance to college students who graduated high school with a “B” average.

In the same time frame, a group of librarians in the University System of Georgia were working on a proposal for one statewide library to serve the entire population of Georgia. The ideas in this proposal were focused into what became GALILEO. Governor Zell Miller’s dedicating lottery money to education also allowed GALILEO to become a beneficiary of lottery funds. GALILEO officially launched September 21, 1995.

Today, the Georgia Lottery has provided Georgia students with more than $12 billion dollars since the first lottery ticket was purchased by Governor Zell Miller.

Images of Governor Zell Miller and students are from the New Georgia Encyclopedia.