The Michigan Lottery is on track to set an all-time sales record, despite a drop in sales last year, Lottery Commissioner Gary Peters said.
Last year's sales fell by $7 million from 2002. Peters blamed the August blackout that cut off revenue from the Daily 3, Daily 4, Rolldown, Mega Millions and WinFall games that rely on electronic equipment.
"We figured the blackout alone cost us $7 million," Peters told The Detroit News for a Sunday story. "We sell $5 million a day on the online games. So without that blackout, we would have been even."
Lower lottery revenues also reflected a big sales drop in the multistate Mega Millions game. Mega Millions sales fell from $205 million in 2002 to $147 million last year. Instant games helped offset some of that loss with a record $682 million in sales, up $27 million from 2002.
"Mega Millions ... is driven by big jackpots and sales only go up when the jackpots hit $100 million," Peters said. "But we only had three jackpots over $100 million last year and none hit $200 million."
Bob Bartolomucci of Macomb County's Clinton Township said the scarcity of nine-figure jackpots curtailed his interest in Mega Millions.
"Unless it's a big jackpot, like $100 million, I don't play, and then I'll play $20 when it gets over $100 million," said Bartolomucci, owner of Macomb Car Co. in Mount Clemens. "The reason I don't play until the jackpot gets big is because of the odds. It's something like 111 million-to-1 to hit."
Peters, however, predicted big sales for Mega Millions this year because of its recent expansion into Ohio, New York and Texas. That, coupled with the popularity of the new Club Keno and Pull Tab games, should result in a record year for all lottery sales, he said.
The Michigan record for lottery sales was $1.73 billion in 1999. As of Friday, sales for fiscal 2004 that began Oct. 1 were $526 million, compared with $481 million in the year-ago period, Peters said.
"Based on our early sales, we are on track to beat 1999," he said. "It's because of Club Keno and Pull Tabs."
The two games are played in more than 1,000 restaurants and bowling alleys in the state. They have brought in sales of $37 million, about $3 million above projections.
"Club Keno is going pretty good. Our bowling leagues are really into it," said Anna DeMotte, supervisor at Shelby Lanes in Macomb County's Shelby Township. The bowling alley is one of 1,015 establishments that offer Club Keno, compared with 700 when the game started.
Club Keno numbers are drawn every 5 minutes and displayed on video monitors in bars and restaurants. The top prize is $100,000.
Not all games have been as successful.
Change Play, which allowed bets of as little as 25 cents, was dropped Nov. 17; sales fell below $11,000 during its last week.
The lottery soon will scrap Roll Down and replace it with a new game, probably in the fall, Peters said.
When Roll Down started in 1999, the top prize for matching all five numbers was more than $40,000. The top prize now is in the $13,000 range because too few people are playing.
Maybe MI should go back to a jackpot pick-5 ?