Pennsylvania Lottery Reports a Record $4.5 Billion Revenue and a $1.14 Billion Profit

An all-time high revenue of $4.5 billion from game sales during the fiscal year of 2018-19 (for a period of July 1st 2018 until June 30th 2019) has been reported by The Pennsylvania Lottery – as was a profit of $1.14 billion, which is also a record for the operator.

Perhaps surprisingly, scratch cards were the biggest source of income with $2.99 billion brought in – an increase from last year’s $2.82 billion.

A Well Thought Out Format Change

Breaking down this outcome by games…

…we can see that draw games also contributed with $1.36 billion in revenue which is up from last year’s $1.25 billion. This increase was driven and caused by MegaMillions and Megaplier 71.4% revenue increase. This was made possible by October 2017’s change of format that made jackpots less frequent, leading to a $1.5 billion jackpot hit in October 2018.

Pennsylvania’s iLottery (online games played on desktop or mobile devices) sales had more than $381 million in play during the first full fiscal year.

For the Benefit of Pennsylvanians

Monitor games experienced a terrific 513% increase in revenue to $46.7 million in total. The largest source of draw revenue were Pick 3 games (due to Powerball and Powerplay income took a 16 million dollar tumble to $260.5 million) even though their revenues declined to $269.2m (a slight drop of 1.2m).

Drew Svitko, the PA Lottery’s executive director, commented on these results:

“We are thrilled that the new and exciting games that were authorized by Act 42 of 2017 are proving to be a tremendous success. We’re always working hard to find innovative ways we can responsibly grow profits to benefit older Pennsylvanians.”

Hot to Put Profit to a Good Use

Liability for prizes in this state reached a new record-high amount of $2.93 billion, which is up from last year’s $2.73 billion…

…with commission costs increased to $331.7m. Costs of istration also rose to $115m (from $94m), while operating costs doubled to $28.8m. Expenses of fixed assets rose by more than a double to $20.6m.

In Svitko’s mind, lottery’s record profit can be put to a good use so that it benefits PA’s oldest citizens.

“Benefitting older Pennsylvanians every day is more than just our mission statement,” he said. Families across the commonwealth rely on the vital senior programs that are funded by the Pennsylvania Lottery.

That is why we are extremely proud to have set a new profit record while exceeding $1bn in proceeds to benefit older adults for the eighth consecutive year. As we strive to do more for our older population in the next fiscal year, we are grateful for the of our players, business partners and the entire Lottery team for making this record year possible.”

Online Gambling Begins, NetEnt Enters

After successful tests at several land-based casinos…

…Pennsylvania’s online gambling market officially went live last month. Also launching their own content was NetEnt, whose US subsidiary secured the Interactive Gaming Manufacturer Conditional License by PGCB) earlier on.

Consumers in the second-largest state to legalize online gambling can now enjoy titles from one of the world’s most-esteemed developers. NetEnt America’s, Erik Nyman, said that he is very proud and pleased that a market such as Pennsylvania has now opened and is convinced that their award-winning online casino games will be appreciated by players in this US state.

Source:

“Pennsylvania Lottery posts record revenue and profit in 2018-19”, igbnorthamerica.com, August 5, 2019.