For the third quarter of fiscal year 2020, the Louisiana Lottery Corporation brought in nearly $123.9 million in revenue and transferred over $43.3 million to the state treasury, bringing total year-to-date contributions to more than $124.8 million. These figures are down 5.7% from the third quarter of last year and represent a $16 million decline year-to-date.
“Players have come to expect large, $400 million-plus Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots. Sales for these games were already down 30%-50% before the governor’s stay-at-home order due to a dearth of jackpots of this size over the last nine months,” explained Lottery President Rose Hudson. “The recent suspension of minimum starting jackpots for these multistate games has exacerbated this reality. The adjustments were necessary due to new, lower game participation levels amid nationwide COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, especially in hard-hit areas with large populations.”
While jackpot games sales are affected by the unpredictable nature of jackpot size, Hudson also noted that sales of the Lottery’s other games, such as scratch-offs, are doing quite well. For the first nine months of the fiscal year, scratch-off sales were up 4.1%. Scratch-offs account for about 49% of the Lottery’s total sales.