PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) — Sales revenue from instant scratch-off tickets is down from a year ago. But the South Dakota Lottery has taken in a lot more from jackpot lotto players, and net machine income from video lottery terminals is up a bit.
That’s the summary from sales reports that deputy executive director Clark Hepper and business analyst Nathan Remmich gave to the South Dakota Lottery Commission on Thursday.
Hepper said sales of instant tickets showed a 1.2% decline but he expressed optimism for a strong finish, while lotto sales were up 54.9%. He said “astronomical numbers” during the COVID-19 pandemic in recent years threw off the instant tickets.
Based on actual sales through February 28 and projected to the June 30 end of the current state financial year, instant sales will total an estimated $31.74 million. That’s compared to $32.12 million last year. For lotto, estimated sales will total $29.19 million through June 30, compared to $18.84 million last year and $18.53 million for fiscal 2021.
Video lottery net machine income meanwhile is running 2.1% above last year. The projection is that slightly stronger pace will result in the lottery collecting $164.49 million as the state’s split from the privately owned machines, up from $161.31 million last year.
The lottery’s projections point to estimated total revenue of $182.52 million, up from $179.25 million last year.
Remmich presented video-lottery data for the top-producing cities. Sioux Falls climbed $2 million to $56.6 million, while Rapid City went down by nearly $1.2 million to nearly $24.3 million. North Sioux City dropped by more than $473,000 to $13.4 million, and Aberdeen was relatively flat at $11.6 million. Yankton rounded out the top five with a gain of more than $873,000 to more than $8.8 million.
Commissioner Jamie Huizenga of Pierre said the pandemic years saw a significant rise in lottery play and as of yet there hasn’t been a decline.
“So we are still getting things done here,” Huizenga said.
Hepper said the customers gained during the COVID-19 period haven’t dropped off. “That was a good pleasant surprise,” Hepper said.