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LOTTERY SALES CONTINUE AHEAD OF LAST YEAR
December 9, 2011
In today’s meeting of the Kentucky Lottery Corporation’s (KLC’s) board of directors, it was announced that lottery sales are up 2.2% in the first four months of FY12 as compared to their pace in FY11.
According to the KLC’s Senior Vice President of Finance & Administration & CFO Howard Kline, sales for July through October were $251.1 million, which is $5.4 million more than the previous year but $9.5 million less than budgeted. “This is being led by a nearly $4 million increase in scratch-off ticket sales over the same period last year,” Kline said.
Income before transfer of dividends for the period was $68.8 million, which is nearly $3 million more than the prior year but $1 million less than budget.
A presentation was made concerning the transition of Powerball to a $2 game starting January 15. The move will have several benefits for players, according to the KLC’s Vice President of Marketing Kate Leverette. “The new $2 game will have a larger starting jackpot of $40 million, a guaranteed second prize of $1 million in cash, and will hopefully provide bigger jackpots that will grow faster,” said Leverette. “More prizes, bigger jackpots and better odds will definitely appeal to our players.” The overall odds of winning a prize will improve, moving to 1 in 31.8 from 1 in 35. The lowest prize level (for matching just the Powerball) will increase from $3 to $4. The KLC’s other multi-state jackpot game, Mega Millions, will remain at $1.
The board also approved a concept for a new draw game sold through retailer terminals set to debut next year. Five Card Cash is a first-of its-kind draw game for Kentucky Lottery players, according to the KLC’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing Steve Casebeer. “The game combines an instant win feature – players will immediately know at the terminal if they’ve won a prize – along with a nightly draw game with a top prize of $100,000,” said Casebeer. The $2 tickets will go on sale February 12, 2012.
In other business, the board approved a contract with Affiliated Forensic Laboratory and Kramer Forensic Lab for lottery ticket testing and related services, along with rules and regulations for eleven scratch-off games and amendments to Powerball and Mega Millions game rules.
The next meeting of the KLC's board of directors will be January 20, 2012. The meeting will begin at 9:30 AM EST, and will be held at the KLC headquarters at 1011 West Main Street in Louisville. Committee meetings will begin at 8:30 AM EST.
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