“The Lottery’s performance is critically important to every city and town in the Commonwealth,” said Treasurer Goldberg, Chair of the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission. “I am proud of the work the Lottery team and our dedicated retail partners have done to deliver over $2 billion in essential funding for unrestricted local aid over the last two years.”
SEPTEMBER 12, 2018 CONTACT: Christian Teja
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MASS. LOTTERY RETURNS $997 MILLION IN NET PROFIT FOR THE COMMONWEALTH
Record-setting revenues result in second-highest net profit in Lottery’s 47-year history
BOSTON, MA –Treasurer Deborah Goldberg announced today that the Massachusetts State Lottery returned $997 million in net profit for the Commonwealth during the 2018 fiscal year which began July 1, 2017 and ended June 30, 2018. This is the second-highest total in the Lottery’s 47-year history. The Lottery produced its record net profit of $1.039 billion in the 2017 fiscal year.
Lottery revenues rang in at a record high of $5.291 billion, surpassing the previous record of $5.233 billion in FY 2016 by $58 million and topping last fiscal year’s total of $5.097 billion by $194 million. It is the fourth consecutive year that revenues have eclipsed the $5 billion mark.
“The Lottery’s performance is critically important to every city and town in the Commonwealth,” said Treasurer Goldberg, Chair of the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission. “I am proud of the work the Lottery team and our dedicated retail partners have done to deliver over $2 billion in essential funding for unrestricted local aid over the last two years.”
The Lottery’s network of retailers earned a record $303 million in commissions and bonuses in FY 2018, surpassing the $300 million mark for the first time ever. With approximately 7,500 retailers, that amounts to an average of $40,000 in income for each of the Lottery’s retail partners.
With 73.5 percent of all revenue returned to players in the form of winnings in FY 2018, the Lottery set another record by paying out $3.891 billion in prizes. Prize payouts can fluctuate from year to year based on the schedule or rate at which players cash in their prizes.
“With record or near-record figures across the board, Lottery players, our retail agents, and the 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth all benefited from the Lottery’s fiscal 2018 success,” said Michael Sweeney, Executive Director of the Massachusetts State Lottery.
The net profit and prize payout totals both include a $1 million a year for life prize (20-year minimum) that was awarded in FY 2018 in the Billion Dollar Blockbuster instant ticket game that ended in March of 2018.
The Lottery’s administrative costs remained approximately 1.9 percent of overall revenues, the lowest of any U.S. lottery.
The Lottery announced an estimated net profit figure of $986 million-plus in July, noting that the final statement of operations would be completed by mid-September. A combination of interest earnings, multi-state game prize settlements and other revenues, including season ticket subscriptions and license renewals, accounted for the increase to $997 million.
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