As reported by iGB, the Kentucky Lottery Corporation has posted its 2020 fiscal year results which show that the organisation took in record revenue of $1.2bn, registering a 6.2% year-on-year rise in the process.
This period saw online lottery revenue grow by 68% to $45m, however, the Lottery Corporation did note that this is still only a ‘modest amount’ of its total revenue, at 3.7%.
Kentucky Lottery executive vice president and chief financial officer Howard Kline, stated: “This was truly a successful year for not only the Commonwealth, but players and retailers as well. Our players saw a record $801.2 million in prizes paid, while our hard-working retailers realized a record-setting $71 million in commissions.
“From a situation where things initially looked like they could turn bleak, we ended up with a win-win all the way around.”
As has been seen across other US lotteries, scratchcards once again proved to be the major source of revenue having increased year-on-year by 10.7% to bring in $741.1m.
Despite this promising result, draw-based games such as Powerball and Mega Millions failed to repeat the success of the scratch off vertical seeing revenues fall by 32.1% to $49.9m and by 41.4% to $37m respectively.
Kentucky Lottery’s interim president and chief executive Marty Gibbs said the Lottery must now learn how to navigate the pandemic and its effects.
“The start to the new fiscal year looks very promising, but we’re in uncharted waters,” Gibbs said. “The continuing pandemic – and its effects on the economy – do create some level of uncertainty moving forward.
“We’ll continue to provide fun and entertaining games in a socially responsible manner nonetheless, as we know Kentucky’s college students are counting on us now more than ever.”
The Fiscal results also saw growth for both Pick 3 and Pick 4 draw games by 11.7% and 14.2% respectively, with the year also seeing the introduction of two new draw-based games, Fast Play and Cash Pop, which in turn generated revenues of $17.9m.
Additionally, the lottery also broke records regarding its contribution to good causes, with the organisation providing $278.5m in total, $271.4m of which went to the Kentucky General Fund to pay for college scholarships, grants and education programs.