First Year of Online Games Nets Pennsylvania $31.1m

• The Pennsylvania lottery announced record profits after first full year of online gambling options
• Previously opposed online services bring record gains to other states as well
• Some states report record annual results without utilizing online gambling

The Pennsylvania state lottery reached record profits thanks to their new online gambling options. On Thursday, the state’s lottery announced it had generated over $4.5 billion in sales for the last 12 months, ending on June the 30^th. In comparison to their previous annual report, the one for 2017-18, this marks an additional 7.2% in profit. Regardless of online options, other state lotteries also report on their own records for the year.

Pennsylvania State Lottery Annual Results in Details

Looking at the exact numbers, Pennsylvania state lottery’s new iLottery games brought in $381 million in revenue for their first full year. The profits for the lottery itself stand at $31.1 million. Other newly integrated online options, dubbed “monitor games” – which include Keno and Xpress Sports – report sales at $46.7 million and lottery profit of $10 million.

Perhaps two of the most contributing services turn out to be scratch-off tickets and draw ticket sales. Scratch tickets make for almost two thirds of the sales for the past year, reporting a record amount of sales at $2.9 billion, 6% higher than last year. Draw ticket sales also report a similar percentage rise at 8.7%, which translate into $1.4 billion in sales.

Prior to the iLottery games debut in May 2018, seven of the state’s land-based casino operators stood fiercely against the notion of the Pennsylvania state lottery utilizing online gambling options. So much so that they filed a suit, claiming that the iLottery games were too much alike to their online slot games. Their case was dismissed based on the court’s perspective, which reasoned that the operators fail to present evidence of how the iLottery games would harm their business.

The Uprise of Lotteries

It looks as though more and more US citizens are drawn to taking chances with lottery tickets, as even states which do not utilize online lottery options are reporting record results for this last year. In Massachusetts, lottery sales reached a record high of $5.5 billion, earning the state $1.09 billion in profit. Iowa’s lottery sales also saw a 5.4% rise, which translates into $391 million dollars, more than half of which were brought in via scratch ticket games.

The lottery in Kentucky, on the other hand, made a strong case for online lottery options, as their iLottery sales went up 50% in comparison to what they were last year. The Kentucky Lottery Corporation saw their overall sales rise 8.3%. iLottery sales make up for $26.8 million of the entire revenue of $1.13 billion. The state profit stands at $272.7 million.

As for now, there aren’t many states which employ iLottery options but given the rise in profits and the tendencies for legalizing and integrating iGaming and sports betting in the United States, it appears as though everyone is at the end of their wits in terms of where to bring about profits from.