Despite the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, the Connecticut Lottery Corp. turned over $348 million to the state’s General Fund in the 2020 fiscal year that ended June 30, the second-highest contribution in its history, the agency announced Thursday.

The amount was 5.9% less than the $370 million the lottery turned over the previous year, its all-time high. Connecticut’s lottery dates to 1972.

Lottery sales in fiscal 2020 came to $1.3 billion, down from $1.33 billion the previous year.

As a state agency, albeit a quasi-public one, the lottery was considered an essential business under Gov. Ned Lamont’s executive order pertaining to businesses, and did not shut down during the pandemic.

“Some individual retailers may have closed or reduced their hours, but there was never a point when there were no lottery sales at all,” a lottery spokeswoman, Tara Chozet, wrote in an email.

The state’s other licensed gambling operators — the casinos and Sportech Venues, which operates off-track betting — were forced to close amid the pandemic, significantly reducing the revenues they provided to the state.

Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun, which pay the state 25% of their slot-machine “wins” — the amounts they keep after paying out prizes — closed March 17 and partially reopened June 1. They combined to pay the state $192.7 million in fiscal 2020, a 24.5% decline from the $255.2 million they paid the previous year and their lowest total in decades.

Sportech Venues operates a dozen OTB facilities in bars and restaurants that were forced to shut down in mid-March and remained closed through the remainder of the fiscal year. Its contribution to the General Fund in fiscal 2020 was not readily available. It contributed $3.1 million in fiscal 2019.

The lottery’s fiscal 2020 results were led by growth in instant ticket sales of $20 million and growth in keno sales of $12 million, the lottery reported. The daily numbers games — Play3 and Play4 — also grew by $10 million. Since its inception, through the end of fiscal 2020, the lottery has contributed $10.3 billion — more than $1 billion over the last three years alone — to the General Fund.

In fiscal 2020, the lottery paid out $822 million in prize money and $73 million in commissions to the retailers that sell its products.

“We’re pleased with the continued strength and consistent contributions the Connecticut Lottery has made to the state, particularly during a time in which Connecticut needs funding more than ever,” Greg Smith, the lottery’s president and chief executive officer, said in a statement.

“The Connecticut Lottery works hard to contribute over 60% of the states’ gaming proceeds, and we continue to look at new opportunities for increasing those funds,” Smith said. “Every day, Connecticut residents use services that are funded in part by lottery proceeds, from roads to schools to public safety and public health.”

On July 20, the lottery debuted a new category of games, Fast Play, which generated more than $6 million in sales in its first month.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com