BOSTON (SHNS) – Lottery ticket sales and monthly profit dipped again in February as the agency dealt with the double-whammy of having sold fewer scratch tickets while also paying out tens of millions in scratch ticket grand prizes.

Interim Executive Director Mark William Bracken told the Lottery Commission on Tuesday morning that the Mass. Lottery sold $424.8 million worth of its products in February, $3.6 million less than in February 2021. The agency turned an estimated profit of $70.2 million last month, compared to $76.6 million in February 2021. In his report, Bracken attributed part of the monthly performance to an “$11.9 million decrease in Instant game sales for the month, $38 million in Instant Ticket grand prizes being claimed for the month, and $4.1 million of multi-state game prize settlements that were processed in February relating to Powerball.”

One bright spot last month was Keno, which saw sales increase by $9 million or 10.5 percent from February 2021 to February 2022. The Lottery estimates that it has generated a profit of $767 million through eight months of fiscal 2022 and, after accounting for six more days being included in the FY 2022 calculation, is running right on pace with its record-setting fiscal year 2021 totals.

Bracken said the Lottery’s year-to-date profits are $100,000 ahead of where they were at this point in fiscal 2021. The Lottery produced a record $1.112 billion in profit in fiscal 2021 for the Legislature to use as local aid.

Treasurer Deborah Goldberg told state budget writers in December that she expects the Lottery will generate about $995 million in revenue for the state this fiscal year and roughly $1 billion in fiscal year 2023.

https://www.wwlp.com/news/massachusetts/lottery-running-even-with-last-years-record-profit-pace/