Tennessee Lottery: Kentucky Lottery Officials Prepare For Loss Of Tennessee CustomersWhile Tennesseans prepare to win jackpots in their own state for the first time, Kentucky Lottery officials are fretting over the potential lost revenue.
Tennessee will launch its first lottery game Tuesday -- scratch-off tickets.
Online games are expected to begin by March, and Tennessee likely will join a multistate game like Mega Millions or Powerball by summer.
Kentucky Lottery president and chief executive Arch Gleason estimates the state will lose 48.4 million dollars in sales in the 2004-2005 fiscal year once all the games are running.
Gleason says the loss could reach 71.4 million in the next fiscal year. A bigger drop could seen in stores near the Tennessee line, where 16 of the top 20 sales outlets are found.
Some retailers say they aren't worried about their total store revenue because they expect their Tennessee customers to keep coming back for Kentucky's cheaper cigarettes, legal bingo games and higher average lottery prizes.
