Inside Scoop On Lottery’s Latest Results

The financial results that lotteries report each year are big news. People use the year-end reports as a quick gauge of lottery success: Were sales up or down? Why? How much money did the lottery raise for important causes?

This year’s results were watched especially closely in terms of lottery sales in a down economy. Did it mean anything if lottery sales were up when the economy has been in a long-term downturn? Have high fuel prices had an impact on lottery sales and the sale of other retail products? 

For a quick review of media reports from around the country about lottery results, click here, here, here and here.    

A reporter who recently called the lottery to ask about our fiscal year 2008 results asked whether we were “shocked” to know that Iowa Lottery sales had increased despite the tough economic conditions in our state and across the country. The short answer is no, but that’s because we know the details behind the numbers. The fact is that lottery sales got off to a very strong start in our last fiscal year, but that was before fuel prices skyrocketed and storms and flooding devastated much of our state. That strong start made the difference in this year’s figures although lottery sales floated down for much of the rest of the year, particularly in June when widespread flooding impacted most of the state.

Lottery sales in FY 2008, which ended June 30, totaled more than $249 million. That marked the highest combined sales total for lotto, instant-scratch and pull-tab games since the lottery’s start in 1985 and was a 6 percent increase from FY 2007’s sales total. The lottery raised more than $57 million in profits for vital state programs in its latest fiscal year.

What those overall figures don’t show is that lottery sales had jumped out to an 18 percent lead over the previous year’s figures by early September 2007, driven by strong performances from Powerball and instant-scratch tickets. The Powerball jackpot had reached $314.3 million for the drawing on Aug. 25, 2007, and that big prize had helped drive not only Powerball sales, but sales of other lottery products as well.

But as the fiscal year continued, the pace of lottery sales slackened, particularly in June, when more than 80 of the state’s counties had been declared disaster areas and the average price of mid-grade ethanol-blended gasoline had risen to $3.86 a gallon in Iowa. Five of the lottery’s products, including Powerball and Hot Lotto, saw sales decreases in June compared to the same month a year earlier.