A combination of a more than $680 million Powerball jackpot and what was nearly a world record Mega Millions jackpot, made October the most successful sales month since the inception of the Kentucky Lottery in April 1989.

According to The Lane Report…

For the month, sales totaled $115.5 million, a 40.3 percent increase or $33.2 million more than what was budgeted. The significant “over” crushes the January 2016 $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot, which set a world record and led to sales of $105.1 million.

Another record set:

The windfall led to another record, this time for the commonwealth, with $34.4 million in monthly net income. That record set another January 2016 record, easily surpassing the previous one by $1.8 million.

In October alone, $21.2 million was spent on Mega Millions tickets by Kentucky players dreaming of winning the $1.5 billion jackpot. That’s “B” as in billion! That far exceeded October’s $3.8 million budgeted sales by a whopping $17.4 million.

October’s $13.3 million in Powerball ticket sales exceeded the game’s budgeted sales that month by 114 percent of $7 million.

Record scratcher sales:

It was a solid month for lottery Scratch-off tickets, which realized sales of $55.1 million, overperforming what was budgeted by a significant $9.3 million or 20.3 percent.

The online sales portal of the Lottery also recorded its highest sales level since the site’s inception, partly due to traffic from players looking to purchase Powerball and Mega Millions tickets. Online Instant Play games saw sales of $1.5 million, which beat the old high by $300,000.

Sustaining forward momentum:

Commenting on the month’s stellar ticket sales, President and Chief Executive Officer for the Kentucky Lottery, Tom Delacenserie said…

“While jackpot games were obviously the major driving force behind these record sales, our other products also did really well. Great performance by our Scratch-offs and strong online sales helped bring home the record month. We have a solid plan ahead for November to help sustain the forward momentum, as our state’s college students are counting on us for scholarship and grant proceeds.”

Thursday night, Kentucky’s Powerball was up at $124 million while Mega Millions was just under that at $122 million.