Lottery ticket sales in Kansas significantly increased this past month, while gaming revenues at the Hollywood Casino in Kansas City, Kansas, were flat.

Hollywood Casino gaming revenues in Wyandotte County were flat, at $11.87 million for the month of October, according to Keith Kocher, director of program assurance and integrity for the Kansas Lottery at Wednesday’s Kansas Lottery Commission meeting.

One year ago, casino gaming revenues were reported as $11.94 million in October at Hollywood Casino.

In September 2018, Hollywood Casino gaming revenues were reported at $12.2 million.

Other state casinos’ gaming revenues in October 2018 included Kansas Star Casino, Mulvane, $13.98 million, down slightly from the previous year; Kansas Crossing, Pittsburg, $2.55 million, up almost 2.5 percent from a year ago; and Boot Hill, Dodge City, $3.28 million, up over 7 percent from the previous year.

One year ago, in October, Kansas Star reported gaming revenues of $14.15 million; Kansas Crossing, $2.49 million; and Boot Hill, $3.05 million.

In September 2018, Kansas Star reported casino gaming revenues of $14.3 million; Kansas Crossing, $2.6 million; and Boot Hill, $3.4 million.

Answering a question from Lottery Commissioner Tom Roberts, lottery officials said that casino officials think the effect of racing week at the Kansas Speedway on the Hollywood Casino was positive this year. There was an uptick in table games on race weekend, according to officials.

Terry Presta, Kansas Lottery executive director, said transfers to the state from lottery revenues are usually $6 million to $7 million at this time of year. For the transfer on Nov. 13, it was more than $10 million, he said. Some funds were reserved for future prizes, he said.

The extra funds were attributed to increased lottery ticket sales when both Mega Millions and Powerball offered jackpots in the hundreds of millions of dollars during October, according to Presta. Powerball was over $650 million and Mega Millions went to $1.5 billion in October. It was very unusual to see two jackpots maxing out at the same time, Presta added.

On Oct. 23, the Kansas Lottery reported sales of $4.57 million in Mega Millions lottery tickets in Kansas.

Presta remarked that it used to take a jackpot of $200 million to $300 million for the occasional lottery player to get interested in buying a ticket, but now it seems to take a jackpot of $500 million to $600 million.