Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
Here’s some sobering news about the North Carolina lottery, as if we needed it:
The North Carolina lottery, less than two years old, seems to already have an image problem. Players say they don’t win as much on the state’s scratch-off tickets as they do with Virginia and South Carolina tickets. Sales, as well as revenue for the state, have fallen since the summer of 2006, except for a brief uptick last spring. Lottery officials say they now want to change the perception that has caused that difference in sales. “It now has been engrained in players’ heads that the payout on our instant tickets is lower,” state lottery director Tom Shaheen said.
Shaheen said the image exists because it’s true. North Carolina devoted a smaller percentage of lottery revenue, 52 percent, to prizes during its first fiscal year, which ran from July 2006 to June 2007, than either Virginia or South Carolina at 57 percent and 60 percent respectively. Comparing scratch-off tickets, the gap is even bigger. North Carolina used about 55 percent of scratch sales revenue for prizes last year, compared with 63 percent in Virginia and 68 percent in South Carolina. That means players win more often in those two states. August sales of N.C. scratch tickets last year were $51 million, compared with $36 million in the same month this year. Players spent $43 million on scratch tickets in September 2006 versus about $38 million last month.
Shaheen and the lottery staff are in the process of pouring more into the scratch ticket prize bucket. They channeled an extra $3.5 million from last year’s operating budget into two games over the summer, $1 “Summertime Cash” and $5 “Big Ol’ Bucks,” both of which proved popular. This year the General Assembly, urged by Gov. Mike Easley, gave Shaheen and his team more latitude in how revenue is distributed, allowing them to add more prizes. A dozen of the approximately 35 games now available include the extra prize money. Lottery officials can’t put a dollar figure on the changes yet because they are adjusting each month, but it is expected to be in the tens of millions of dollars.
Lottery leaders are raising those prize figures by abandoning the benchmark, once promised by Easley’s administration, of devoting 35 percent of lottery revenue to education. The move drew little attention when legislators approved the change, other than an “I told you so,” from longtime lottery critics who had predicted just such a shift. The goal is to attract more players and increase overall lottery revenue. That way, even though education gets a smaller percentage, it gets more money because the pie is bigger. “If we’re at 30 percent and bring in more dollars,” Shaheen said, “that’s what we’re going to do.” (Mark Johnson, THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 10/27/07).
well what do you expect… look at the odds in Cherokee and the same people work the compact with the tribe that controls the lottery..
You ain’t goin to win.
Seems like they would have wanted the first year payouts to be at a higher percentage to get people hooked, then drop them later. People won’t keep buying for long (as it appears we’ve seen) just on the novelty of being able to buy in NC unless they actually win something every now and then.
Georgia’s actually where I’ve gotten the best return for my "investment," followed by SC.
Was just commenting on this the other night at work. When I lived in NYC I bought tickets once or twice a week – no more than $5 total was my standard unless I won. I usually won 3 or 4 times a month: $2, $10, $20. Once even $80. While I realise Lottery is a tax on the mathematically challenged, it is also fun to win every once in a while.
Since leaving NYC, I’ve never won on the tickets. I stopped buying ’em as it seems "the fix is on". Or I’ve been very unlucky. Maybe I’ll go back to paying my math tax 🙂