The Pennsylvania Lottery has recently reported an increase in gambling profits, displayed for the 2009-2010 fiscal year. This was the fifth best year for ticket sales and fourth best for profits in the history of the Pennsylvania Lottery.
According to reports, sales for the 2009-2010 Lottery represented $3.065 billion. This was 0.7 percent less than the previous year. Net revenue, however, went up 0.6 percent over the previous year, as revenues totaled at $915.7 million.
“The Lottery was able to return $5.3 million more in profits than last year despite a slight decrease in overall sales,” began Executive Director Ed Trees. “This was mainly because of savings over the prior year in contracts with out vendors which helped to keep operating costs down. Also, the Lottery did not experience interest losses it experienced the previous fiscal year, which was helpful in returning more profits.”
Instant games had a slight decline, losing 0.5 percent over the previous year. This drop took place despite the fact that instant games, primarily scratch games, had accounted for 57 percent of all lottery sales. Terminal based games dropped roughly 1 percent over the previous year.
Powerball tickets, on the other hand, rose in sales by approximately 0.8 percent. Mega Millions has only joined the Pennsylvania Lottery on January 31st, but had generated 40.8 million for the Pennsylvania Lottery.
According to state law, the Pennsylvania Lottery must contribute at least 27 cents of every dollar to programs, while 40 cents of every dollar must be returned to players in prizes. According to reports, the 2009-2010 lottery gave 29.87 cents of every dollar to programs for the elderly, while players received 60.9 cents on the dollar in prizes.
Pennsylvania online gambling does not currently offer ways for players to buy lottery tickets, though USA online gambling could soon be extended to let players purchase their tickets over the Internet.
