The Hoosier Lottery is wrapping up an incredible year of sales.
The State Lottery Commission has seen a 27% increase in scratch-off ticket sales from this time last year.
That jump is coinciding with a 19% bump in Powerball and Mega Millions sales.
The commission reveled those numbers at its meeting last week.
The Hoosier Lottery was able to make the most of its fiscal year despite everchanging circumstances throughout the pandemic.
Hoosier Lottery continues strong year
A few months back, the Hoosier Lottery sent out an update for the first third of the budget year. That stretch ran from July to October of last year.
In short, things were going spectacular.
Scratch-off sales were leading the charge with a 31% increase from the previous year.
That accounted for over $423 million worth of sales in just a fourth month period.
That momentum continued to snowball heading into the holiday season.
The Hoosier Lottery’s “$10 Holiday Game” racked up some of the best sales numbers ever during its debut.
Given the latest batch of info, the Hoosier Lottery managed to capitalize off of that holiday momentum and carry it over into the spring.
Pandemic boosts lottery ticket sales
The Lottery can thank COVID-19 for its sales spike.
Playing the lottery became the only gambling option in the state once the pandemic started.
With no Indiana online sports betting and with casinos closed, gamblers turned their attention toward lottery tickets.
Of course, the world eventually started to return to some form of normalcy.
The lottery managed to continue its strong sales despite the increase of vaccinations and easing pandemic restrictions around the state.
Even with other gambling options available, many Hoosiers still to chose stay away from public options with larger crowds.
Those decisions drove sales numbers up and created a record year for the lottery in Indiana.
The Hoosier Lottery is expecting to finish at over $1.7 billion worth of sales. That will result in almost $370 million in profits for the state of Indiana.
We’ll know the final numbers for sure once the current budget year wraps up at the end of June.
This has been an incredible sales stretch, but the lottery isn’t expecting it to last forever.
Hoosier Lottery expecting a dip
The 2022 fiscal year might not see the same sales soar as the current cycle.
The Hoosier Lottery is expecting a modest numbers drop since it will be operating without that extra pandemic boost.
IGT is the company that actually operates the lottery in Indiana.
IGT’s Indiana Chief Operating Officer Melissa Pursley is planning for an 8% sales drop over the next year.
“We have budgeted a decrease from the historical year that we’ve experienced. As Hoosiers begin to have more options to spend their entertainment dollars, we believe that our sales will be impacted.”
It would be a surprise if the Hoosier Lottery had another record year in 2022.
Despite that, this year’s incredible sales numbers have put Indiana’s love for the lottery on full display.
Hoosiers will continue to buy tickets next year even as more entertainment options return.
