PA Lottery Posts Increase in Profits to Senior Programs; Releases Fiscal Year 2009-10 Sales

MIDDLETOWN, Pa., July 30 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Lottery posted an increase in profits for fiscal year 2009-10, Executive Director Ed Trees announced today, as the PA Lottery released its annual report online. Fiscal year 2009-10 was the fifth-best year for ticket sales and fourth-best for profits in the Lottery's history.  

Fiscal year 2009-10 Lottery sales totaled $3.065 billion, which was $22.4 million, or 0.7 percent, less than the previous year. Net revenues to the Lottery Fund for fiscal year 2009-10 totaled $915.7 million, which was $5.3 million, or 0.6 percent, more than the previous year.  

"The Lottery was able to return $5.3 million more in profits than last year despite a slight decrease in overall sales. This was mainly because of savings over the prior year in contracts with our vendors which helped to keep operating costs down," said Trees. "Also, the Lottery did not experience the interest losses it experienced the previous fiscal year, which was helpful in returning more profits."

Instant games sales for the fiscal year totaled $1.75 billion, which was $8.9 million, or 0.5 percent, less than the previous year. Instant games account for about 57 percent of all PA Lottery ticket sales.  

Sales for terminal-based games – including The Daily Number, Big 4, Quinto, Treasure Hunt, Cash 5, Super 7 (which retired in April), Mix & Match (which retired in May), Match 6 (which returned in June), Millionaire Raffle, Powerball and Mega Millions (added in January) – totaled $1.32 billion for the fiscal year, which was $13.5 million, or 1 percent, less than the previous year.  

Powerball sales of $313.5 million were $2.4 million, or 0.8 percent, more than last year.  Mega Millions sales for five months of the fiscal year were $40.8 million.  Mega Millions joined the PA Lottery game line-up on Jan. 31.  

"Lottery game sales throughout the fiscal year trended up and down alongside leading economic indicators — ticket sales were down throughout the first half of the fiscal year, but they began to rebound in the second half of the year.  

"February was by far the worst month of the fiscal year for ticket sales," noted Trees. "The Lottery estimates it lost between $20 million and $25 million in ticket sales during back-to-back snow storms in February that hampered travel in most areas of the state, and we never fully recovered those lost sales."  

Lottery retailers, many of them family-owned small businesses, earned $160.1 million in commissions in fiscal year 2009-10. The number of locations selling Lottery products increased by 180 locations, from 8,340 in fiscal year 2008-09 to 8,520 in fiscal year 2009-10.  

"After years of growth in its retailer network, the Lottery started to experience a decline in the number of retailers in recent years because many businesses could not survive the recession," said Trees. "This past fiscal year, we started to see the tide turning, and for the first time in two years, we saw an increase in the number of Lottery outlets again."

The Lottery has grown its retail network by 21.3 percent, or 1,497 locations, since Governor Edward G. Rendell took office in 2003, when it had 7,023 locations.  

Lottery sales have grown by more than $1.1 billion, or 59 percent, since fiscal year 2001-02, when sales were $1.93 billion. The Lottery has generated more than $7.1 billion in net revenues for the Lottery Fund since fiscal year 2001-02.

According to the most recent industry reports, the PA Lottery is the sixth largest lottery in the nation in terms of population.  It ranks sixth among the 44 U.S. lotteries in annual sales and fifth in annual profits.

By law, the PA Lottery must contribute at least 27 cents of each dollar earned to programs and 40 cents to players in the form of prize money. In fiscal year 2009-10, the Lottery contributed 29.87 cents of each dollar to programs for older residents, while about 60.9 cents was returned to players. Lottery players won $1.87 billion in prizes in fiscal year 2009-10, $14.6 million more than the prior fiscal year.

About the Pennsylvania Lottery: The Pennsylvania Lottery remains the only state lottery that designates all its proceeds to programs that benefit older residents. Since its inception 38 years ago, the Pennsylvania Lottery has contributed more than $20.1 billion to programs that include property tax and rent rebates; free and reduced-fare transit; the low-cost prescription drug programs PACE and PACENET; long-term living services; and the 52 Area Agencies on Aging, including more than 600 full- and part-time senior centers throughout the state. The Pennsylvania Lottery reminds its players to play responsibly. Players must be 18 or older.  

For more information on the Pennsylvania Lottery, visit www.palottery.com.

Media contact: Kirstin Alvanitakis, 717-702-8008

Editor's Note: The PA Lottery's 2009-10 annual report is available at www.palottery.com, under "About the PA Lottery," then "Annual and Economic Reports."  

SOURCE Pennsylvania Lottery