The Mississippi Lottery sold nearly $9 million in tickets during its first six days of operation.

About $3.8 million of the money was awarded in prizes, and nearly $2 million of it will go into the state budget to help pay for roads and bridges.

The Mississippi Lottery Corporation started selling tickets Nov. 25, and it announced the initial sales figures in a news release Wednesday.

The corporation says the largest prize awarded has been $15,000. It says most people who are collecting money so far are choosing to remain anonymous.

Mississippi had been one of six states without a lottery, but people from the state were driving to Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee to buy tickets. Mississippi legislators voted in 2018 to create the games of chance as a way to generate money for infrastructure. Hiring staff, vetting retailers and starting games took more than a year.

For now, only single-state games are available in Mississippi. The multistate games Powerball and Mega Millions will be available in Mississippi starting in late January.