Hoosier Lottery senior staff have stated their belief in the firm’s continued success during the COVID-19 outbreak despite profits going to state government having dropped by nearly $8m this past year.
Posting its financial results, the lottery revealed profits to the state for the budget year that ended June 30 of $304.5m, a 2.5% decline from a year earlier. This followed on from Indiana lottery players spending 12% more on scratch-off tickets as big jackpot games such as Powerball and Mega Millions saw declines.
Lottery officials commenting on the decrease have since attributed it to the COVID-19 outbreak which saw over 5% of the lottery’s retail ticket sellers close for extended periods after statewide business restrictions were put in place in March.
Lottery Commission chairman William Zielke commented: “It is kind of a remarkably great year considering the circumstances.”
Additionally, the state of Indiana also saw its ticket sales for jackpot games decline by 22% to $291m, with officials attributing the loss to a lack of giant prizes that would otherwise grow over several months.
Carrie Stroud, the lottery’s chief of staff, stated: “In years past, we had seen over $1bn in jackpots for both Powerball and Mega Millions. This is the year where we barely hit over $400m so a little bit disappointing in the result of the sales there. But purely jackpot driven.”
However, a 12% jump in scratch-off ticket sales to nearly $1.1bn saw the lottery register a record overall revenue, with profit only declining slightly because a higher percentage is paid out for prize money in scratch-off tickets than in jackpot games.
Hoosier Lottery proceeds to the state have also increased by roughly 50%, from $205m in 2012, however, it remains below the original goal of $410m in annual profits by 2018 under the privatization plan.
