Lottery Has Second Best Year Ever and Contributes Over $179 Million to State Treasury

The Louisiana Lottery Corporation ended its fiscal year with more than $511.8 million in revenue, making 2020 the Lottery’s second best year ever. Resulting transfers to the state treasury for K-12 public education were over $179.1 million, exceeding budgeted transfers by more than $11.3 million and coming in just $5.1 million under last year’s record finish. 

“Like so many businesses across our state, the Lottery has faced immense challenges this quarter with the COVID-19 health crisis,” explained Lottery President Rose Hudson. “The Lottery’s success story is a result of the resiliency of our retailers as essential businesses, the ingenuity and diligence of our employees and our unwavering shared commitment to the Lottery’s mission to raise funds for public education.”

Hudson pointed out that the Lottery’s overall sales performance prior to the pandemic was sluggish due to a lack of $400 million-plus Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots. This dearth of large jackpots has continued through the end of the fiscal year, resulting in a sales decrease of about 40% or $65 million compared to last year for these games. 

However, amid the heavy downturn of multistate game sales, scratch-offs came to the rescue. Bringing in $90.8 million during the fourth quarter alone, it was the best quarterly finish for this product line in the Lottery’s history. 

“During this time, new customers have tried our games as other forms of gaming were inaccessible,” Hudson added.  “Lottery games provided a fun diversion, an inexpensive entertainment option that people could enjoy at home.” Scratch-off sales ended the year up 17% or $39 million over last year. 

Sales of Pick 3, the Lottery’s second highest revenue generator, experienced an $8.1 million increase over 2019 and ended 2020 at approximately $62.9 million. 

In addition to state coffers, local businesses that sell Lottery products also benefited to the tune of $28.9 million in fiscal year 2020. Retailer compensation for the fourth quarter alone was $8.8 million, which includes sales commission, incentives for cashing winning tickets and bonuses for selling tickets. 

Fourth quarter figures for fiscal year 2020 show Lottery revenue totaled $155,188,510 with $54,291,486 being transferred to the state treasury. 

For fiscal year 2020, Louisiana Lottery ranked first among state lotteries in percent of revenue transferred to its government. In fiscal year 2020, 35% of Lottery revenue was transferred to the state treasury and dedicated for K-12 public education. Roughly 54.3% of sales funded prizes, 5.6% was paid to retailers and 5.1% was used to operate the Lottery. 

The Lottery's total fiscal-year state transfers were $179,159,426. Since the Lottery began operations in 1991, it has brought in more than $11 billion in revenue and transferred over $3.9 billion to the state treasury.

Lottery ticket purchasers must be at least 21 years of age. The Lottery encourages anyone with a gambling problem, or friends of anyone with a gambling problem, to call toll-free 1-877-770-7867 for assistance. Recent financial statements and historical treasury transfers can be found on the Lottery’s website.