State lottery bets on internet for infusion of cash

in installing the monitors and collecting 5 percent of the revenue as partners with the lottery. His group is disappointed to be denied a chance to install the type of video gaming terminals — with slots or video poker play — that the gambling legislation has authorized at truck stops.

Mr. Boock, a Chambersburg bar-restaurant owner, said of the virtual sports games, “It isn’t something we asked for. ... I’m sort of neutral on it,”

Some state lotteries use a keno game in bars, taverns and clubs as a similar method of raising revenue from drawings held every few minutes. Mr. Miller said the new Pennsylvania legislation removed a prohibition on the state lottery using keno in that manner, but lottery officials have made no determination to start using it, as they have with online andvirtual sports additions.

Meanwhile, Mr. Miller said, there’s good news in lottery sales being 3.7 percent ahead of where they were at this time last year, primarily from popularity of Fast Play games launched in February.

Additionalrevenue would be a help in a state where it’s estimated the size of the 65plus population will grow nearly 700,000 between 2015 and 2025. The 85-and-older population is supposed to surge after that. While the Lottery Fund has provided a steady stream of help, even with last year’s financial setbacks, there are signs of strain in supporting the older population.

A portion of lottery revenue went to about 65,000 people last year in the Options program in which Area Agencies on Aging arrange home services for those needing it, an increase of 20,000 from two years earlier. But another 3,400 are on a growing waiting list tied to flat funding and increased demand. The association representing Area Agencies on Aging unsuccessfully sought additional funds last year to reduce that waiting list and pay more to home care agencies.

“Over the long term, talking more than five years out, there’s concern about the lottery fund and all the programs for older Pennsylvanians, because we can’t ignore these demographic trends,” said Ray Landis, advocacy manager for AARP Pennsylvania. “When the 85plus population begins growing significantly, I don’t know what kind of games you could create for the lottery to keep up.”