“The Virginia Lottery represents good fun for a great cause, and our players are helping us build another record year of support for Virginia’s public schools,” said Lottery Executive Director Kevin Hall. “We’re proud of the continuing popularity of our broad mix of games and prizes. We’re also seeing success in our efforts to use new technology to make our products more convenient and fun for consumers.”
With the first half of Fiscal Year 2019 complete, the Virginia Lottery is on pace for another record-setting year.
Today, Virginia Lottery officials announced that overall Lottery sales in Virginia totaled $1.16 billion from July through December, which is an increase of more than 10 percent from the same time last year. The Lottery’s fiscal year runs July 1 through June 30.
Those record sales for the first two quarters led to profits of $321 million, a 7-percent increase over the previous year. By law, all Virginia Lottery profits benefit K-12 education in the commonwealth.
The sales and revenue numbers were announced at today's quarterly meeting of the Virginia Lottery Board.
“The Virginia Lottery represents good fun for a great cause, and our players are helping us build another record year of support for Virginia’s public schools,” said Lottery Executive Director Kevin Hall. “We’re proud of the continuing popularity of our broad mix of games and prizes. We’re also seeing success in our efforts to use new technology to make our products more convenient and fun for consumers.”
In addition to record sales and profits for the first half of the fiscal year, players took home a record $721.8 million in prize money, and retailers who sell Virginia Lottery games earned a record $65.4 million in commissions.
One big part of the Lottery’s record-setting pace is the Mega Millions jackpot run in October that culminated in a $1.537 billion jackpot for the Oct. 23 drawing. In the hours leading up to that drawing, Mega Millions tickets were being sold in Virginia at a rate of about 12,000 tickets per minute.
That’s not the only good news generated by the Virginia Lottery in the first half of FY19. The Lottery’s new mobile app was downloaded more than 93,000 times during those six months. The app provides many handy features, including jackpot information, retail locations, and resources about responsible gaming. In addition, mobile customers have the ability to scan their own tickets to see if they’ve won – an important security feature – and consumers also can enter promotions by scanning right from the app.
In addition, Virginia Lottery online subscriptions grew by 94 percent from the previous year. The Lottery offers subscriptions for Mega Millions, Powerball and CASH4LIFE®, which gives customers within the boundaries of Virginia the convenience of playing from their mobile device or home.
Now in its 30th year, the Virginia Lottery generates more than $1.6 million per day for Virginia’s K-12 public schools. Operating entirely on revenue from the sale of Lottery products, the Lottery generated more than $600 million for Virginia’s public schools in Fiscal Year 2018. In addition, more than $14 million in unclaimed Virginia Lottery prizes went to Virginia’s Literary Fund in FY18 for school construction, renovation, and technology upgrades. For more information and a complete list of Lottery funds distributed to Virginia school districts, visit the Virginia Lottery’s Playing Matters page. You can also visit our website, download our app, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, and check us out on YouTube. Please play responsibly.
http://www.nbc29.com/story/39839005/virginia-lottery-announces-sales-and-profits-are-on-a-record-pace