New York lottery sales totaled $5.4 billion in the last fiscal year, which ended Monday, making it the most successful lottery in U.S. history.
“That’s a record again, the third year in a row we’ve set a record for a North American lottery,” said Lottery Director Margaret DeFrancisco. The figure is up about 15 percent from the previous year, which had sales of $4.7 billion.
She said New York’s lottery sales from 1976 through 1986 totaled $5.5 billion.
“Now, in a year, we sell almost what we used to in 10.”
Larry Gorham of Henrietta has contributed his share to the lottery sales, usually playing $12 worth of Quick Draw games a day.
“I enjoy it very, very much,” he said. “It takes a little bit of my time every day if I want it to. It’s very good entertainment.”
DeFrancisco said changes to lottery games and the introduction of the multistate Mega Millions game -- which took in $373 million in New York -- contributed to the sales gains. But she credited the lottery’s success to “a really solid business plan and executing it.”
But not every game did well. Lotto sales suffered, DeFrancisco said, as a result of competition from Mega Millions. Lotto brought in $392 million last year, compared with $565 million the previous year.
“People are looking for a jackpot game,” she said. “Some people will play Lotto when it’s high, and Mega Millions when it is high.”
So who wins from $5.4 billion in sales?
More than half of the total -- $3.1 billion -- went back to players in prizes.
About $300 million was paid to retailers in commissions, and $200 million was used for administrative costs -- salaries, printing tickets and advertising.
The remaining $1.8 billion is profit which goes into the state’s general fund. Using a complex formula, the Legislature and governor determine what aid each school district receives. The lottery profits are then included as part of that total aid; lottery sales in geographic areas are irrelevant to the amount of aid each district receives.
More than $74 million designated as lottery profits was given to Monroe County schools in state aid in 2002.
“That (statewide) sum aid to education is staggering to me,” DeFrancisco said. “It’s five percent of the entire cost of elementary and secondary education for the total year.”
James Mainey, executive director of the New York Council on Problem Gambling, hopes the state will share profits to pay for programs to help problem gamblers. About 44 percent of the 15,000 callers with problems last year credited the lottery as the root of their problem, up from 35 percent the previous year.
Effective advertising campaigns and the ease of finding lottery retailers make playing the lottery “so simple and available,” Mainey said. “Everybody can play the lottery. You don’t have to know about horses or how to play casino games.”
In 2001, Mainey asked the state to increase the $1.5 million his office has received each year to operate seven treatment programs in major cities in New York, including one in Rochester. More money could mean more treatment programs.
Higher sales
New York’s sales increases aren’t unique. Nearly all of the 40 lotteries in the country have reported higher sales, said David Gale, executive director of the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries, based in Cleveland.
Gale said New York’s lottery, one of the oldest in the country, “certainly has been doing one terrific job” maintaining sales in an era where there are more gambling options such as casinos and “jackpot fatigue,” when bettors play only when record-high jackpots can be won.
And a poor economy hasn’t helped.
DeFrancisco said lottery retailers have reported reduced traffic in stores, with customers not having as much change left over after filling their gas tanks.
“People don’t have as much disposable income, and that’s what we’re competing for,” she said. “There doesn’t seem to be as much of it.”
Even though there are 40 instant games currently available, DeFrancisco said about 34 new ones are planned each year. Many will replace existing games; other popular sellers, such as “Win For Life,” will remain.
“Our players and retailers say they want different tickets,” DeFrancisco said.
That describes Abe Gindin of Rochester.
“I play just about every day,” he said as he bought $20 worth of the latest scratch-off tickets Wednesday at Bi-Rite Market & Pizza in Henrietta.
“I do it for the money, to see how lucky I am, and for the excitement.”
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