Florida Lottery ticket sales were $314 million above projections in the first half of the current fiscal year, but state economists anticipate a “pandemic-related” surge in sales to ease.

A panel known as the Revenue Estimating Conference bumped up projected ticket sales from $8.41 billion to $8.95 billion for the 2021-2022 fiscal year, which ends June 30, according to a report posted this week.

But overall, the economists anticipate ticket sales will be lower this fiscal year than last year, as people with discretionary money find other forms of entertainment.

The forecast anticipates a $121.8 million decline in overall ticket sales this year and sales to be down an additional $51 million during the 2022-2023 fiscal year, which will start July 1.

After that, “ticket sales for each year will grow between 1.1 to 2.2 percent, largely driven by population growth,” the report said.

As COVID-19 pummeled the state in the 2020-2021 fiscal year, the lottery set a record $9.076 billion in sales.

The sales total is expected to drop to about $8.954 billion this year, according to the new forecast.

The 2020-2021 total was bolstered by $6.8 billion in scratch-off ticket sales, according to the agency in August.

The new forecast for the 2021-2022 fiscal year got a boost from higher-than-expected sales of scratch-off tickets and Powerball tickets, which were aided by two large jackpots.

The 2020-2021 sales allowed the Florida Lottery for the first time to transfer more than $2 billion into the state’s Educational Enhancement Trust Fund.