Ariz. Lottery saw record revenue in fiscal ’13
The two largest jackpots in Powerball history, including one split by a Fountain Hills man, contributed to a recordbreaking fiscal 2013 for the Arizona Lottery, its executive director said.
Sales revenue for the year that ended June 30 was $692.9 million, up 7.2 percent from the previous year. It was the most in the Lottery’s 31-year history and enough that for only the fourth time, every designated Lottery beneficiary received its full funding.
The price of Powerball tickets doubled to $2 in January 2012, helping fuel larger jackpots. In May, a Florida woman won a record $590.5 million jackpot, while in November, Matthew Good of Fountain Hills split $587.5 million.
“People all over Arizona are excited and are playing the game, so that added a lot to our sales,” Arizona Lottery Executive Director Jeff Hatch-Miller said.
Tim James, a professor at the L. William Seidman Research Institute at Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business, said older Arizonans may have helped boost sales.
“The population of the retirees in Arizona is increasing after the recession due to the migration of people who are retiring, and they have more time and discretionary income to play,” he said.
Hatch-Miller said the recession didn’t affect the Arizona Lottery’s performance. In addition to big jackpots, he credited new games such as the Weekly Winnings drawing and Second Chance Scratchers.
Matthew Smith, managing director at Chicago-based Independent Gaming Research, said Arizona and other states are benefiting from offering new and better games.
“Lotteries are getting smarter — not just simply throwing a bunch of instant games out there which nobody knows what they mean, but really think about the themes, the prizes and the motivations,” he said.
At S & J Shop & Ship in downtown Phoenix, owner Shirley Petro said ticket sales were up 44 percent in fiscal 2013 over the previous year. But she attributed that to the growing population in the area.
“People have a lot of pressure on their jobs, they are stressed,” she said. “They come in, they buy a lottery ticket, they think maybe they will be able to quit work. That’s probably why the Lottery has been high: It gives people hope.”