By Angela Hatton
Nashville, TN – The Tennessee lottery has generated more than 1-(point)-3 billion dollars for education programs since its inception five years ago, and officials are hoping that number will continue to grow despite a tight economy. Since its start, lottery spokeswoman Kym Gerlock says, the program has had nearly 5 billion dollars in sales and awarded about 3 billion dollars in prizes. The big chunk of the revenue then goes toward education programs. Gerlock says last year more than a hundred thousand individuals benefited from lottery-funded education.