Record-setting revenues result in highest ever commissions and bonuses for retailers and all-time prize payout for players
BOSTON, MA –Treasurer Deborah Goldberg announced today that the Massachusetts State Lottery produced an estimated $986 million-plus in net profit for the Commonwealth during the 2018 fiscal year which began on July 1, 2017 and ended June 30, 2018. This would be the third highest total in the Lottery’s 47-year history, with the potential to become the second highest when the final statement of operations is completed. The Lottery’s record net profit of $1.035 billion was set in the 2017 fiscal year.
Lottery revenues rang in at an estimated record high of $5.285 billion, surpassing the previous record of $5.233 billion in FY 2016 by approximately $52 million and topping last year’s total of $5.097 billion by approximately $188 million. It is the fourth consecutive year that revenues have eclipsed the $5 billion mark.
“The performance of the Lottery is critically important for all 351 cities and towns in the Commonwealth,” said Treasurer Goldberg, Chair of the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission. “I am proud that we have continued to maximize essential funding for unrestricted local aid in a challenging retail environment.”
The Lottery’s network of retailers earned a record $302.9 million in commissions and bonuses in FY 2018, surpassing the $300 million mark for the first time ever. With approximately 7,500 retailers, that amounts to an average of $40,000 in income for each of the Lottery’s retail partners.
FY 2018’s record-setting revenue figure was bolstered by the continued growth of Keno and several high-performing new instant tickets, led by the “$50, $100 and $500 Blowout” tickets that featured prizes exclusively of those amounts, the first game of its kind in Massachusetts. Overall, instant tickets accounted for an estimated $3.593 billion in sales, a 2.1 percent increase over last fiscal year’s total of $3.517 billion
Monitor game sales, which include the Keno and All or Nothing games, hit the $1 billion mark for the first time since the launch of Keno in 1993, combining for an estimated $1.006 billion in sales. With estimated sales of $996.9 million in FY 2018, a new record for Keno sales was established. Keno sales increased an estimated 9.0 percent over last fiscal year’s total of $914.7 million.
With an estimated 73.6 percent of all revenue returned to players in the form of winnings in FY 2018, the Lottery set another record by paying out an estimated $3.891 billion in prizes. Prize payouts can fluctuate from year to year based on the schedule or rate at which players cash in their prizes.
Lottery players won 194 prizes valued at $1 million or more, highlighted by the record-setting $758.7 million Powerball jackpot won by Mavis Wanczyk of Chicopee on August 23, 2017. Wanczyk chose the cash option on her prize and received a lump sum payment of $480,500,936. (The prize liability on jackpot prizes in multi-state games is shared by all participating lotteries based on their respective sales).
The net profit and prize payout totals both include a $1 million a year for life prize (20-year minimum) that was awarded in FY 2018 in the Billion Dollar Blockbuster instant ticket game that ended in March of 2018.
The Lottery’s administrative costs remained approximately 1.9 percent of overall revenues, the lowest of any U.S. lottery.
Additionally, during FY 2018 the Lottery began replacing the 20-year old agent terminals. Approximately 75 percent of the new terminals are in place and the project remains within its budget and on schedule.
“With record-setting revenues, near record net profit, and a $758.7 million jackpot winner, all while implementing a major operational conversion, this has been a very exciting year for the Lottery,” said Michael Sweeney, the Lottery’s Executive Director. “These accomplishments are made possible by the hard work and dedication of our workforce and retail partners in collaboration with the strong support provided by the Treasury and our commissioners.”
While the FY 2018 figures have not been formally audited, the Lottery does not expect them to change substantially once that annual review process is complete. Lottery officials anticipate completing the finalized financial statement of operations by mid-September.
The Massachusetts State Lottery was created in 1972 to generate much-needed local aid revenues for the Commonwealth’s cities and towns. Since its inception, the Lottery has returned more than $26 billion in net profit to the Commonwealth. For more information about the state Lottery, please visit www.masslottery.com.