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BOSTON (State House News Service) — With the ever-important holiday sales period right around the corner, the Massachusetts Lottery is already running well ahead of last year's record-setting sales and profit pace.
Executive Director Mark William Bracken reported to the Lottery Commission on Tuesday that September 2023 sales of $453.4 million were up $38.4 million or 9.2 percent from September 2022, fueled in part by a surge in Powerball ticket purchases during the run-up to the $1.765 billion jackpot won in the Oct. 11 drawing. Powerball sales in Massachusetts totaled $23.8 million, a 237 percent increase over September 2022.
The Lottery sold more of nearly all of its products in September 2023 than it did in September 2022, with the exceptions of the Numbers Game (sales down $862,351) and Mass Cash (sales down $130,484). The Lottery also returned less to winners in September 2023 than in September 2022 -- last month's prize payout percentage was 68.88 percent, compared to 73 percent in September 2022.
All of that combined to generate an estimated profit of $108.2 million for the Lottery in September, an increase of $28.9 million over the $79.3 million profit spun off in September 2022.
Through the first three months of fiscal year 2024, Lottery sales are running $138.1 million or 9.1 percent ahead of the same period in fiscal 2023 and the Lottery's estimated profit of $315.1 million is about $40 million ahead of where it was at this point last year.
Fiscal 2023 saw record high sales revenue and profits for the Lottery.
Earlier this month, the Lottery began selling tickets for its Mass Millionaire Holiday Raffle, a game that offers players a top prize of $1 million, weekly prizes of $20,000 and one $100 instant winner for every 100 tickets played. The tickets, which contain seven digits that must match the winning combination to score big, cost $10 each and there is a maximum of 550,000 tickets to be sold.
"The game is off to a really great start," Product Manager Shane Taylor said Tuesday. "In the first 15 days of sales, we've sold over 35 percent of the ticket run, which is only 20 percent of the time that's elapsed in the promotional game offering. We've had a 90 percent redemption rate on the $100 instant wins, and as well as no cannibalization from any of our products. We're really seeing this as an add-on product for some of our players."
Written by Colin A. Young/SHNS
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