Georgia Lottery sales hit record $1.56 billion

Jan 19, 2007, 1:21 pm (6 comments)

Georgia Lottery

The Georgia Lottery Corp., which finances the HOPE Scholarship program, Thursday announced record sales for the first half of fiscal year 2007.

Lottery President and CEO Margaret DeFrancisco said the six-month numbers were $28.4 million ahead of the same period last year, which was a record at the time. The fiscal year began July 1.

Sales for the first half of fiscal year 2007 totaled $1.56 billion, with $400 million going to education — more than $4.1 million ahead of last year. The rest of the money, about 75 percent of the sales income, went toward lottery expenses, including payouts to winners and rebates to retailers.

DeFrancisco touted the improved numbers at a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the lottery's two recently opened outlets at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and the airport's deputy general manager, Mario Diaz, attended the announcement.

The lottery chief attributed the increase to 40 new instant games that were added in 2006 as well as the addition of two popular lottery games, Win For Life and Millionaire Raffle.

"One of our other strategies is to be in places where the lottery has not been located," DeFrancisco said during an interview.

Diaz said the two airport lottery outlets, in the North and South Terminal baggage claim areas, have generated about $700,000 in sales in their first two months. If that pace continues, those outlets will generate about $3 million a year, making the airport one of the lottery's top three locations in the state, lottery officials said. The lottery pays Hartsfield-Jackson 7 percent of sales to keep the outlets at the airport.

Since the lottery's 1993 inception, its high-odds games of chance have raised more than $8.8 billion for education. The lottery finances HOPE and Georgia's pre-kindergarten program. One million students have received HOPE Scholarships, and more than 700,000 4-year-olds have attended the statewide voluntary pre-kindergarten program.

DeFrancisco said the Georgia lottery ranks fifth in the nation in total sales behind California, New York, Florida and Texas. She said it ranks 15th out of 175 lotteries worldwide.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution

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DoubleDown

Glad I was able to contribute to the record........

On a serious note, I disagree with Ms. DeFranciso on the popularity of Win for Life.
I have spoken with a lot of people and they all say the same thing- the payout is terrible on this game ( no, they don't even mention the lack of a cash option, CASH ONLY) so they avoid it .

Also, I bet C-store owners really appreciate that the Lottery Commission pays the airport 7% for the privilige of selling tickets there....almost makes one think of organized crime..

How much do they pay stores to sell their tickets ?

SirMetro's avatarSirMetro

Quote: Originally posted by DoubleDown on Jan 19, 2007

Glad I was able to contribute to the record........

On a serious note, I disagree with Ms. DeFranciso on the popularity of Win for Life.
I have spoken with a lot of people and they all say the same thing- the payout is terrible on this game ( no, they don't even mention the lack of a cash option, CASH ONLY) so they avoid it .

Also, I bet C-store owners really appreciate that the Lottery Commission pays the airport 7% for the privilige of selling tickets there....almost makes one think of organized crime..

How much do they pay stores to sell their tickets ?

Per the PDF posted here http://www.galottery.com/uploads/media/retailerforweb06.pdf they pay 7% for all Cash3 sales and 5% for all other sales plus 2% on any monies that is paid out along with cash bonuses for any winning ticket sold for Fantasy 5, Megamillion and W4L.

So perhaps the news failed to mention the true break down because I think the C-stores would raise a ruckus if they found out they were being cheated out of 2% (and yes, there really is an association group of Convenience stores that monitors the local, state and federal laws of what is and is not allowed).

DoubleDown

Quote: Originally posted by SirMetro on Jan 19, 2007

Per the PDF posted here http://www.galottery.com/uploads/media/retailerforweb06.pdf they pay 7% for all Cash3 sales and 5% for all other sales plus 2% on any monies that is paid out along with cash bonuses for any winning ticket sold for Fantasy 5, Megamillion and W4L.

So perhaps the news failed to mention the true break down because I think the C-stores would raise a ruckus if they found out they were being cheated out of 2% (and yes, there really is an association group of Convenience stores that monitors the local, state and federal laws of what is and is not allowed).

True about the associations ....

7% of all sales at the airport- plus the bonuses.... not too bad.

Thanks SirMetro..

CASH Only

Quote: Originally posted by DoubleDown on Jan 19, 2007

Glad I was able to contribute to the record........

On a serious note, I disagree with Ms. DeFranciso on the popularity of Win for Life.
I have spoken with a lot of people and they all say the same thing- the payout is terrible on this game ( no, they don't even mention the lack of a cash option, CASH ONLY) so they avoid it .

Also, I bet C-store owners really appreciate that the Lottery Commission pays the airport 7% for the privilige of selling tickets there....almost makes one think of organized crime..

How much do they pay stores to sell their tickets ?

Obviously the GA Lottery wants to put a "positive" spin on LOSE for Life. Until either the game is changed (or better yet, terminated.)

If you go to www.valottery.com, there is a hint that LOSE for Life is struggling, at least in VA. I'm hoping global warming continues to heat up so there is no use for those jackets. (GA, KY, and VA replaced Lotto South with LOSE for Life.)

DoubleDown

Quote: Originally posted by CASH Only on Jan 19, 2007

Obviously the GA Lottery wants to put a "positive" spin on LOSE for Life. Until either the game is changed (or better yet, terminated.)

If you go to www.valottery.com, there is a hint that LOSE for Life is struggling, at least in VA. I'm hoping global warming continues to heat up so there is no use for those jackets. (GA, KY, and VA replaced Lotto South with LOSE for Life.)

global warming and the lottery .
Please explain the correlation, CASH...

CASH Only

Quote: Originally posted by DoubleDown on Jan 20, 2007

global warming and the lottery .
Please explain the correlation, CASH...

There really isn't any. But, as long as global temperatures increase (never mind that it finally feels like winter in NY), who would want to wear a jacket, whether or not it has to do with a lottery?

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