Published: May 20, 2020

Sales up for some Ohio Lottery games during coronavirus crisis

CLEVELAND, Ohio - While the Ohio Lottery’s popular Keno game often played in bars has taken a big hit during the coronavirus crisis, many players apparently turned to other games to satisfy their gambling habits.

Both scratch-off based games and Pick-3 ticket sales have been up each of the last two months, according to the latest monthly report from the Ohio Lottery Commission.

Overall, ticket sales were down 4.6% to $264.2 million last month from $277 million in April 2019. And for the first 10 months of the fiscal year, sales totaled $2.77 billion, down 1.4% from $2.81 billion. The fiscal year ends June 30.

Scratch-off ticket sales were $161.8 million in April, $151.8 million in March and $147.8 million in February, the last full month before coronavirus restrictions in the state.

Pick 3 ticket sales were $35.4 million in April, $33.8 million in March and $31.9 million in February.

The opposite has occurred for Keno, which is often played in bars but not exclusively so. Sales were $16.4 million in April, $29.5 million in March and $42.1 million in February.

https://www.cleveland.com/datacentral/2020/05/some-ohio-lottery-games-more-popular-during-coronavirus-crisis.html

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