Massachusetts Lottery to post record profit
Despite year-on-year gross sales fall, Massachusetts is set to reach a record in profits when it closes its fiscal year.
US.- Treasurer Deborah Goldberg announced earlier this week that gross sales in the Massachusetts Lottery are 2 percent lower than 2016, but it’s also set to return US$1 billion in profit in fiscal year 2017.
The record number comes at the same time as the lottery is decreasing the revenue that it pays to players as prizes. “I just never, ever count my money until it’s in, but we are on track to surpass for the first time … we are on track to have $1 billion in net profit, which was my goal when I arrived. We have done that under very trying circumstances,” said the Treasurer, as Taunton Gazette revealed. During the first 11 months of the year the local lottery generated approximately US$978 million in profits, up from the US$929 million registered during the same period last year. Sales in these past months have decreased 2.4 percent, as the lottery collected US$5.2 billion in gross sales and US$989 million in profit last year.
Goldberg believes that the efficiency of the lottery is one of the reasons why it’s doing so well. “This is a historic moment for the Lottery. It’s something that, given our decrease in sales and particularly in instant tickets, I was never sure whether we’d bump against it. There are so many different things we have done … it would take me more than a half an hour to go through all the lists of things that we’ve done in very cost effective ways to increase profits.”
Goldberg introduced back in January a bill that would authorise the Massachusetts Lottery to offer online games. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission said that the legalisation of the online gambling would help the state to regulate and tax already existing wagering sites. Additionally, it would turn the state into a technology leader. Goldberg warned lawmakers that the strike will not continue if they insist on not letting the online sector prosper.
