State Lottery Revenue Sees Slight Decrease In September

By Phil Kabler State Lottery revenues continued to slide in September, but not because of the usual culprits. Racetrack video lottery and Limited Video Lottery at bars and clubs around the state held relatively steady in September, compared to September 2015, while sales of traditional drawing and scratch-off games dropped $2.8 million to $12.43 million for the month. Drawing lottery sales are driven by jackpots, and in September, neither PowerBall nor Mega Millions had major jackpots. For September, racetrack video lottery at the state's four racetrack casinos - hard hit in recent years from competing casinos in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland - held its own, dropping just $17,000 from September 2015 to $44.16 million. Table games revenue at those casinos actually increased in September, up $62,000 to $3.54 million compared to September 2015. Limited Video Lottery, affected recently by the downturn in the state economy, also held steady, falling just $9,000 to $228.85 million. For the month, Lottery revenues totaled $89.78 million, down $2.87 million from September 2015. For the first three months of the 2016-17 budget year, Lottery revenues total $277.93 million, down $7.94 million, or 2.8 percent, from the same point in 2015. Year-to-date, the state's share of Lottery profits are down $4.48 million, or 2.5 percent, at $124.7 million. Also Thursday, the Lottery Commission:n Fined two Limited Video Lottery operators for insufficient funds to remit the state's share of monthly profits: $20,000 fine for Blue Diamond LLC, and $2,493 for CG's. n Authorized Grand Vision Gaming to install a limited number of Limited Video Lottery machines programmed for 94 percent payouts.