Lottery sales up despite COVID
The coronavirus and accompanying restrictions on consumers and businesses last year didn't hamper Ohioans hoping to hit it big in the state lottery, with ticket sales up more than 15% over pre-pandemic 2019.
That should mean additional funding for Ohio's schools, with about a quarter of proceeds directed into the state's Lottery Profits Education Fund, though the final impact won't be known until the end of this fiscal year in June.
Total game sales from January through December topped $3.8 billion, up from $3.3 billion in 2019, according to statistics compiled by the Ohio Lottery Commission.
More than 84% of the increase, about $426 million, came from scratch-off ticket sales. With the exception of March, monthly scratch ticket sales in 2020 exceeded '19 results, often by tens of millions of dollars.
Lottery thrived while casinos closed
The lottery commission compiled the calendar-year totals at the request of The Dispatch to gauge how the pandemic affected ticket sales.
Scratch-off ticket sales drove record numbers for the lottery in the first half of 2020, said lottery spokeswoman Danielle Frizzi-babb, and that appears to have continued during the second half of the year.
“People have been limited in their entertainment options for the last 10 months, and lottery games proved to be a fun socially distanced form of entertainment,” state lottery Director Pat Mcdonald added in a released statement.
The totals were a bright spot in Ohio’s legalized gaming sector, with restrictions on in-person activities hampering casino and racino revenues.
The Ohio Casino Control Commission reported total 2020 revenues of more than $643 million, down about 24% from nearly $851 million in 1999.
The 2020 totals included two months (April and May) with zero casino revenue, following closures from mid-march through mid-june instituted by the state health department to prevent the spread of COVID-19. As of November, casinos also were barred from operating around the clock, due to curfews implemented as part of the state pandemic response.
Casino, lottery revenues rebounded
Casino revenues hit record totals during the six months when locations were open and operating 24 hours a day, commission spokeswoman Jessica Franks said.
“I don’t know if it’s pent-up demand,” she said.
“Movie theaters have been closed, and a lot of other entertainment options have not been available for folks. So this has been one of those few entertainment options that people still have where they’ve been able to go out, if they choose to do so.”
Likewise, video lottery terminals regulated by the state lottery commission at seven Ohio horse racing tracks recorded a 35% drop in the total number of credits played in 2020, to $7.8 billion from $12 billion-plus.
But while traditional lottery sales
statewide were down in March and April, monthly sales for the rest of 2020 exceeded 2019. Mcdonald said the lottery commission and retailers found ways to promote ticket sales despite restrictions on face-to-face interactions.
In May, for example, the lottery launched a mobile feature allowing cash prizes to be claimed online and deposited directly into accounts.
And, while unpredictable, bigger jackpots, like those in recent days for Powerball and Mega Millions drawings, often push new or casual players to purchase tickets.
“These past few weeks have shown gains in almost every category, but especially in our Scratch-off, Pick game and Keno product lines,” Mcdonald said.
State schools fund should benefit from lotto gains
Of the total revenues from traditional lottery sales and racino machines, about 65% is distributed as prizes, onequarter goes to school funding, 6% to 7% is paid out in commissions to retailers and 4% is used to fund lottery commissioner operations, said Frizzi-babb.
During the last fiscal year, $1.3 billion in proceeds was deposited into the state’s Lottery Profits Education Fund.
Of the total casino revenues, 51% is distributed to counties on a per-capita basis and 34% goes to public school districts based on enrollment. Both payouts will be lower for the first six months of current fiscal year.
mkovac@dispatch.com