TERRE HAUTE —
The recession may have put a damper on casino gambling revenues in Indiana, but the sales of Hoosier Lottery tickets went up last fiscal year.
News that the state reversed a decline in lottery ticket sales for the year comes as Hoosiers are enticed to spend even more of their discretionary dollars on a chance to win a fortune: The Hoosier Lotto jackpot is now up to $30 million — the second-biggest Lotto jackpot in a decade and the fifth-largest Lotto jackpot since the lottery was launched in 1994.
The rising Lotto jackpot has caused sales of Lotto tickets to grow over the past two weeks. Weekly Lotto ticket sales have averaged about $1.36 million since early July. For the week ending Sept. 18, they were at $1.45 million. Last week’s sales of Lotto tickets were up to $1.54 million.
Hoosier Lottery spokeswoman Megan Wright said while Lotto sales are trending upward as the jackpot grows, lottery officials have yet to see “a significant spike” since the Lotto jackpot rolled over from $29.5 million to $30 million late Saturday.
The next drawing for the Lotto jackpot is today at 10:50 p.m., with sales closing at 10:39 p.m.
The upward sales may be a good omen. Hoosier Lottery officials haven’t officially released their fiscal year 2010 numbers yet, but they did confirm what was first published in the Indiana Legislative Insight and its sister publication, Indiana Gaming Insight, last month — that is, that in contrast to declining revenues and attendance at the state’s casinos, the Hoosier Lottery saw a small but significant increase in sales over the past fiscal year.
After one of its poorest sales performances in a half-decade, the Hoosier Lottery saw an increase in sales of more than 1 percent for fiscal year 2010, which closed on June 30.
Sales of tickets for fiscal year 2010 were up more than $7.6 million over the previous year, according to Insight editor Ed Feigenbaum.
That contrasts with fiscal year 2009, when the Hoosier Lottery revenue fell 11 percent. The 2009 fiscal year drop was the agency’s weakest sales since fiscal 2003.
At this time last year, state lottery officials were blaming the recession. But they also credited the Hoosier Lotto for big sales in 2008, when the jackpot rolled over for almost a year. That’s when the Lotto jackpot climbed to a record $54.5 million.
The current jackpot of $30 million is the largest Lotto jackpot since then.
Lotteries across the country saw declining lottery sales in fiscal year 2009. But as Indiana, a number of them are reporting better years for 2010.
Feigenbaum said that while Kentucky lottery sales were down by $38 million over the past year, Ohio and Illinois reported big increases. Ohio saw a $70 million gain in a year’s time, while Illinois saw its lottery sales jump by more than $100 million.
What drives lottery ticket sales is often subjective, said Feigenbaum.
Beyond a big jackpot, it’s also driven by fear and confidence on the part of the consumer.
“Purchase of a lottery ticket is a discretionary purchase, and it competes with other discretionary spending, whether it is eating at a restaurant, buying a new iPod or spending an evening at slot machines at a casino,” said Feigenbaum.
“But discretionary spending takes a back seat to ensuring that a family has food on the table, clothes on their backs and a roof over their heads.”
In the 20 years that the Hoosier Lottery has been in existence, it’s given away $7.6 billion in prizes, and has paid $800 million in commissions to retailers and other outlets who sell the tickets.
More than $3.7 billion has gone back to the state’s coffers, much of it into the Build Indiana Fund and into the Indiana State Teachers’ Retirement Fund and the Police and Fire Pension Relief Fund.
Maureen Hayden is Statehouse bureau chief for CNHI’s Indiana newspapers. She can be reached at maureen.hayden@indianamediagroup.com.
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Hoosier Lottery reverses declining sales
As jackpot grows near record level, sales of Lotto tickets on rise
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