The Hoosier Lottery is on track to break sales and revenue records this year, delivering more money than ever back to the state.
The lottery’s fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30. And last fiscal year, revenues only barely met what the lottery budgeted for, impacted by the early months of the pandemic.
Executive director Sarah Taylor said this year, however, the lottery is breaking records.
“This ranks as the largest amount the Hoosier Lottery has ever returned to the state of Indiana to support our teacher’s retirement fund, local police and firefighter pensions and the lottery surplus fund,” Taylor said.
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The lottery is set to deliver about $368 million back to the state – while the private company that runs the lottery for Indiana will get a nearly $20 million bonus for exceeding the state’s income goal.
Almost every game the lottery offers surpassed sales projections with two months of the fiscal year still to go. Scratch-off games in particular – the lottery's biggest revenue generator – blew by expectations, with more than $1.1 billion in revenue through April 30. That's only the second time scratch-offs have exceeded a billion dollars.
Hoosier Lottery officials didn't provide an exact reason for the surge. But they did mention the lack of entertainment options available during the pandemic. And they aren't predicting such large revenue returns next fiscal year.
Contact reporter Brandon at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.
