Texas Lottery generated more than $100 million in one week from scratch-off ticket sales

Jan 7, 2019, 8:51 am (27 comments)

Texas Lottery

The Texas Lottery has, for the first time in its history, sold more than $100 million in scratch ticket sales in just one week. From Dec. 23, 2018 to Dec. 29, 2018, scratch ticket sales totaled $100,776,586, shattering the old record of $99,679,358 achieved in March of 2018.

"This is a very special time for the Texas Lottery as we continue to experience unprecedented growth and we are especially thrilled to celebrate this tremendous record week of scratch ticket sales," said Gary Grief, executive director of the Texas Lottery. "Revenue generated from these games supports public education and veterans in Texas," said Grief.

The Texas Lottery has already generated $1.5 billion in scratch ticket sales thus far in FY 2019 and is on pace to shatter its previous annual scratch ticket sales record of $4.42 billion for FY 2018.

"Our scratch ticket sales have reached unprecedented levels during the current fiscal year, a testament to our strategic game planning and the extraordinary teamwork among our staff, vendors and retailers. As we continue to introduce fun and innovative scratch ticket games to our players, and our draw games continue to perform, we're on pace for another record-breaking year for total sales and revenue to the state." Grief said.

Lottery Post Staff

Comments

JADELottery's avatarJADELottery

Scratchers tend to be the lottery industry's cash cow.

reddog's avatarreddog

Quote: Originally posted by JADELottery on Jan 7, 2019

Scratchers tend to be the lottery industry's cash cow.

I know it is for N.C.. but we all keep buying them even though the amount of cards of any particular kind printed has increased 10 times what it was 10 years ago but the bs odds stay the same. I slowed down three years ago when it really started getting obvious. But I will brag on Virginia, a lot of N.C. folks buying theirs because, for some reason they hit better.

music*'s avatarmusic*

Congratulations to Gary Grief and the TX Lottery. They know how to keep the golden goose and the cash cow alive and well.Coffee

Bleudog101

And some idiot politicians want to get rid of the Texas Lottery?  Guess they use fuzzy math for their thinking. 

On the plus side (LOL), Texas will never see a casino, plenty of them outside their states.  Big problem is a long drive for many in the middle of the state.

Coin Toss's avatarCoin Toss

Gary Grief, executive director of the Texas Lottery

The lottery executive director's name is Grief.

good grief! 

Scared

Stack47

The spike could possibly be because of a larger number of scratch-off Christmas gifts, simply because Texas players really like their games, or a combination of both.

noise-gate

Wow, Texans sure have a lot of disposable income.

rwalkero

Texas lottery sctratch off odds are horrible to say the least of course if your not paying out your profits will increase.

oate's avataroate

Quote: Originally posted by rwalkero on Jan 7, 2019

Texas lottery sctratch off odds are horrible to say the least of course if your not paying out your profits will increase.

In most states, scratchers payout between $0.60 and $0.70 on the dollar, with the more expensive scratchers having better returns. They generally have better returns than draw games.

I randomly picked a $10 scratcher from the TX lotto website and it pays out $0.685 on the dollar. ( https://www.txlottery.org/export/sites/lottery/Games/Scratch_Offs/details.html_252704508.html )

That's about average or a little better than average from what I've observed of other states' scratchers offerings. Texas draw games' returns aren't as good as $0.685 on the dollar, that's for sure.

gatorsrok

Quote: Originally posted by oate on Jan 7, 2019

In most states, scratchers payout between $0.60 and $0.70 on the dollar, with the more expensive scratchers having better returns. They generally have better returns than draw games.

I randomly picked a $10 scratcher from the TX lotto website and it pays out $0.685 on the dollar. ( https://www.txlottery.org/export/sites/lottery/Games/Scratch_Offs/details.html_252704508.html )

That's about average or a little better than average from what I've observed of other states' scratchers offerings. Texas draw games' returns aren't as good as $0.685 on the dollar, that's for sure.

You are generally correct with the payouts on the scratch-offs vs draw games.  The draw games are very top heavy and allocate most of the prize payouts to the jackpot prize.  Scratch-offs allocate most of the prize payouts to lower tier prizes.  It all depends upon which prize structure you like.

grwurston's avatargrwurston

Quote: Originally posted by JADELottery on Jan 7, 2019

Scratchers tend to be the lottery industry's cash cow.

Fiscal year 2018 had $4.2 billion in scratch off sales.

How much of that was actually won by the scratch off players?

sweetie7398's avatarsweetie7398

I love scratchersSun Smiley

DELotteryPlyr's avatarDELotteryPlyr

A good reporter would have ALSO asked about how much was/has been paid out since that period.  I would assume payouts would have been UP in that period.  And was there a jackpot or other large payout?

Seems the state only cares about sales, but I guess that is expected.

rcbbuckeye's avatarrcbbuckeye

Quote: Originally posted by DELotteryPlyr on Jan 8, 2019

A good reporter would have ALSO asked about how much was/has been paid out since that period.  I would assume payouts would have been UP in that period.  And was there a jackpot or other large payout?

Seems the state only cares about sales, but I guess that is expected.

On TLC's website there were 5 $1 million scratchoffs and 1 $5 million scratchoff claimed Jan 3rd and Jan 4th. You can click on any scratch game and see how many top prizes have been claimed. The lotteries DO want people to win. It's good for business. On the other hand, lotteries ARE a business, not a charity There HAS to be a profit made, or that business will not survive.

So, sales are important. Without sales, there is no profit, and there are no winners either.

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