Despite having had its best month ever in April, experts in the state of Indiana are expecting its state run lottery service to collect less money this fiscal year than it originally budgeted for.
Run by the private company IGT Indiana the state lottery has revealed, through its General Manager Melissa Pursley, that as things stand the effects that COVID-19 has had and will continue to have on the business are hard to estimate.
She stated: “It is evident that COVID-19 will have an impact on the Hoosier Lottery’s business, including sales performance and net income return to the state. But what’s less clear is how long that impact will last.”
As reported by the Indiana Public Media, the projected shortfall, however, isn’t as bad as some state officials feared, with the posting of April as the lottery’s best sales month providing somewhat of a glimmer of hope.
While current projections suggest that original fiscal estimates are wrong, the reality of the situation is that the lottery is expected to miss its target by only $10m.
Regarding the potential $10m loss, Lottery Commission member David Redden commented: “Even though it’s a shortfall, it could be a lot worse.”
Last year the state collected $312m in lottery revenue with the budget projecting $304m for the state this year. The new expectation now projects a revenue of $294.7m.
As of now, the most direct source of the anticipated shortfall is big jackpot games such as Powerball, Mega Millions and the Hoosier Lottery due to all of them having fallen 26% below predicted levels through April 30.
Despite this shortfall, scratch-off sales are doing even better than expected, with the game becoming the biggest source of lottery revenue having sold more through April than pre-COVID projections anticipated.
The lottery is now expected to report its final revenue numbers in August.