KENTUCKY LOTTERY SALES FINISH THE HALFWAY MARK OF FISCAL YEAR STRONG
In today's meeting of the Kentucky Lottery's board of directors, it was announced sales for the first half of the fiscal year are 6% ahead of where they were at the same period last year.
Vice President and Corporate Controller Maggie Garrison reported strong increases in scratch-off tickets and Keno sales helped lead the gains. Scratch-off ticket sales for July through December were $294.8 million, a $10.3 million (3.6%) increase. Keno sales jumped $4.4 million (12.7%) to $39.4 million.
The multistate Powerball and Mega Millions games also showed healthy increases. Powerball sales were $42.5 million, a $6.1 million (16.7%) increase, while Mega Millions sales of $17.6 million were up $2.4 million (15.6%). "And this was before the large jackpot runs in January that saw both games have simultaneous jackpots over $400 million," Garrison said.
Executive Vice President & CFO Howard Kline reported on projections looking toward the last half of Fiscal Year 2018. Kline said current projections show sales ending the year at $1.037 billion, which is $3.8 million (0.4%) higher than what was budgeted.
"Sales are up due to solid performances from our jackpot games and scratch-off products, and we've been able to do this all while lowering operating expenses by almost $700,000, which is 4.7% less than last year," said President and CEO Tom Delacenserie. "We have some innovative games - especially in the scratch-off product - planned for the last half of the fiscal year, so we anticipate ending on a strong note."
He added, "I'd also like to thank our board for their strong support, and our retailers and hard-working sales and corporate team for their great efforts."
In other business, the board approved:
* A contract renewal with Smartplay International for random number generator systems;
* A contract renewal with Affiliated Forensic Laboratory Inc. for lottery ticket testing;
* A lease renewal with Ershig Properties for office and storage space for the Madisonville regional office;
* A memorandum of agreement renewal with the Commonwealth Office of Technology to house the Lottery's back-up data center;
* A contract with SeNet International Corporation for computer and lottery security services, and
* Rules and regulations for five scratch-off tickets, artwork and prize structures for two additional instant tickets, and rule changes for 14 Instant Play games.
The next meeting of the KLC's board of directors will be March 23. The meeting will begin at 10:00 AM Eastern, and will be held at the KLC headquarters at 1011 West Main Street in Louisville. The audit committee meeting will begin at 8:00 AM Eastern, as well as the procurement committee at 9:00 AM Eastern.
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Sara Westerman | Communications Specialist
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