For the first four months of the fiscal year, Kentucky Lottery officials say ticket sales were lower than for the same time period last year.
The announcement was made at the Kentucky Lottery Corporation board of directors meeting Friday. Officials say the main culprit was a near-world record $1.5 billion Mega Millions jackpot that occurred in October 2018.
Lottery officials report sales from July through October of this year were $353.3 million, which is $12.8 million, or 3.5%, less than the same period in the previous year. Kentucky Lottery President and CEO Tom Delacenserie says that the $1.5 billion Mega Millions jackpot was a huge outlier in sales last year, and they haven’t had any jackpot close to resembling that size this time around.
Declacenserie says they sold $2.4 million Mega Millions tickets in October of this year, compared to $21.2 million in just Mega Millions tickets in October of last year. He notes while this was great for last year’s results, it does put them at a big year-over-year disadvantage when trying to compare performance.
Through this week, Delacenserie says their unofficial year-over-year results show sales were down only 2.5%. He adds that lotteries across the U.S. are down as a result of the Mega Millions situation, and only being 2.5% away from where they were last year actually makes them one of the leaders in the industry. Delacenserie says staff members are working on plans to boost sales for the remainder of the fiscal year, including a continued effort to increase the number of tickets available at retail locations. He also says early indications for the “Holiday Cheer” family of holiday-themed tickets look very positive, and they anticipate a very strong showing in the second half of the year.
