In a late September meeting of the Kentucky Lottery Corporation’s (KLC’s) board of directors, it was announced that lottery sales are up 12.8% in the first two months of FY13 as compared to their pace in FY12.
According to the KLC’s Senior Vice President of Finance & Administration & CFO Howard Kline, sales for July and August were $139.7 million, which is $15.9 million more than the previous year and $3.9 million more than budgeted. “Instant sales are up $7.1 million or 9.3% compared to last year, and our draw game ticket sales have jumped $8.8 million or 18.7% over last year’s number,” said Kline. He added the jump in draw game ticket sales was fueled by a $337 million Powerball jackpot in August and a $2.8 million (or 14.9%) increase in Pick 3 sales so far this year.
Players have been winning more in prizes thus far in the fiscal year. Kline said $80.3 million has been paid, compared to last year’s figure to date of $68.3 million (up 17.6%) and the budgeted amount of $78.4 million (up 2.4%). “Higher sales always translate into higher prizes, which explains part of this increase,” Kline said. “In addition, our Pick 3 and Pick 4 players in July were very lucky, as those games paid out $3.8 million more in prizes than had been budgeted.”
Income before transfer of dividends for the period was $35.7 million, which is $3 million more than the prior year and $243,000 more than budget.
In other business, the board was presented the results of the annual financial report of FY12 operations from the accounting firm of Crowe Horwath LLP. The board also approved contracts with AT&T for telecommunications equipment and Delehanty Consulting for third part security assessment and related services, along with rules and regulations for 18 scratch-off tickets.
The next meeting of the KLC’s board of directors will be November 30. 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.
