Megabucks for Lottery: $5B

The Massachusetts State Lottery has set a record for transactions in a single fiscal year.State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg said Tuesday that the lottery surpassed $5 billion in transactions for the first time in its 43-year history. Further, she said, the lottery ended Fiscal Year 2015 with an estimated $983.5 million in profit, which is $35.7 million higher than what was forecast in the original fiscal budget.The exact figure for sales was $5.011 billion, Goldberg said. The resulting profit is second only to the record $983.7 million that the Lottery generated in 2012. Lottery net profit is the single largest source of unrestricted local aid to the state?s 351 cities and towns.?This is exciting news for the commonwealth, to break $5 billion in sales,” said Item CEO Beth Bresnahan, who was the lottery?s executive director prior to leaving July 1 to work at the paper.?I?m extremely proud of the team at the lottery, and its 7,500 retail partners across the state, for achieving this record-breaking status, especially knowing that the net profit goes back to cities and towns in unrestricted local aid,” Bresnahan said.The Lottery?s fiscal year commenced on July 1, 2014 and ended June 30 of this year. Sales of $5.011 billion eclipsed the previous record of $4.863 billion set last year by $148 million, marking the fourth consecutive year of record-setting sales.?I am proud that our thoughtful analysis and strategy have produced another record-setting performance, generating valuable financial resources for cities and towns across the Commonwealth for programs and initiatives that will benefit residents at the local level,” said Goldberg, who as treasurer serves as chairman of the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission.Goldberg cited robust sales at the $20 and $30 instant ticket price points and a substantial increase in KENO sales over FY14 as primary contributors to the record-setting numbers.The Lottery introduced its first $30 instant ticket, “World Class Millions,” shortly before the start of FY15, helping to drive overall instant ticket sales to unprecedented levels in the weeks following its launch. Sales of the industry award-winning “World Class Millions” remained strong throughout FY15, which also saw the release of the Lottery?s second $30 game, “Supreme Millions,” on April 28, 2015. Combined sales of all $20 and $30 instant tickets accounted for over $1 billion in sales in FY15, an 18 percent increase over the previous year.KENO sales rang in at an estimated $851 million, a $36 million increase over FY14, due in part to the expansion of the number of agents offering the product. An additional 250 agents are now selling KENO compared to a year ago.The Lottery spent an estimated $100.5 million on administrative costs in FY15. These costs remained at approximately 2 percent of overall revenues, the lowest of any U.S. lottery.The Lottery awarded a record $3.641 billion in prizes in FY15. Prize payouts for a given year can fluctuate based on the schedule or rate at which players cash in their prizes. FY15 saw three $15 million prizes claimed on $30 instant tickets. With 72.6 percent of all revenue returned to players in the form of winnings in FY15, the Massachusetts Lottery has the highest payout percentage of any lottery in the country. Meanwhile, Lottery retailers earned over $286 million in retailer commissions and bonuses in FY15, topping the mark of $277 million set last fiscal year.?The Lottery?s goal is to maximize profit for local aid and we appreciate the efforts of our employees and our network of retail partners across the state, as well as the continued support from our players, in helping us reach our goal,” said Michael Sweeney, the Lottery?s interim executive director. “As Lottery sales have continued to set records, our players and our retailers have enjoyed record-setting returns of their own.”While the FY15 figures have not been formally audited, the Lottery does not expect them to change substantially once