N.C. Lottery making changes to counter weak sales

Comment #20

Lucki723 — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 04:22:10 GMT

temptustoo, I get your point, and yes the economy is in the dumps in general. But what I was trying to say is that with higher payouts , they might pull the sales up a little higher since they are trying to counter weak sales.

Comment #19

tlady4 — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 03:53:03 GMT

To the NCEL, quit holding back the numbers and let them fall the way they should and let the people who play hit the numbers instead of cheating them out of their money and your sales will go up a BLIND MAN! can see how the lottery is run all they have to do is watch and that is what your customers have been doing and i for 1 don't blame them they get tired of waiting for days,days and then when the don't play the number come out if you let them hit then they will play some more. Let everybody b... [ More ]

Comment #18

temptustoo — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 03:03:51 GMT

No the answer is .............LOWER your projections.. The economy SUCKS.... Get used to it..

Comment #17

Lucki723 — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 02:07:25 GMT

The Answer is higher payouts. This should apply to all states. The State can afford to pay $600/$700 in Pick 3 and $6,000/$7,000 in Pick 4. They are still going to make a killing. I hate the fact they gobble up half the prize and then cry that sales are slow.

Comment #16

Hermanus104 — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 15:06:28 GMT

The day drawing in North Carolina is very late too. I think they should conduct that one at about 1:00. I do not think day drawings should be conducted after 2:00.

Comment #15

JAP69 — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 04:46:09 GMT

When lotteries first come out in a state it's gamblin time. People go out and start wagering that have not considered gambling before for a chance at some bucks. Maybe spend more than they should. Then the players who are losing cut back on the amount they play or quit. Losing money gets old after a bit.

The economy does not help matters either.

Now the lottery needs to figure a way to generate interest again.

Comment #14

Tenaj — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 04:30:02 GMT

I will indeed do that.

Comment #13

trulyblessed — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 23:55:01 GMT

I totally agree with you Tenaj. The draw time needs to be earlier. Let's email them and let them know our thoughts. The draws stopped showing here in Charlotte but I watch them live on wral.com.

Comment #12

dpoly1 — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 23:20:23 GMT

Sorry about the numbers in NC, ....................................

but a happy event would be my winning ticket in tonite's Mega Millions drawing !!

Woo Hoo !!

Thank you Santa

Comment #11

Tenaj — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 22:24:40 GMT

I am willing to say that if they were to change the drawing time to say early 7:00 or 8:00 people will play more than they think they would have to spend for telecasting. It will actually draw more interest in playing.

And make pick 3 and 4 a fair game. Most people feel that NC pick 3 game is shady, (all of those pre-test draws) at least it was when Sheehan was there. I can tell the difference. I play in the store now sometimes since he left. I just hope they don't start it again.

I actua... [ More ]

Comment #10

Hermanus104 — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 22:08:07 GMT

This is a good idea, but I think the execs typically decide pay, so I don't think this going to happen.

I wonder if they will attempt to increase revenue by adding a midday Pick-4 game? All the states around North Carolina have a midday Pick-4 game. I think North Carolina's going to add a midday Pick-4 game at some point. I'm just not sure when.

Comment #9

sully16 — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 14:02:54 GMT

Job loss in N.C. is severe, both my brother and nephew drive to Georgia every week to work, people are going to cut back on extras when you got bills to pay.

I wonder with megaplier coming to more states what will happen to powerball sales

Comment #8

charmed7 — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 13:58:10 GMT

They need to up with something, i was wondering if they even select any winning jackpots, scratch offs, mega, or powerball

in Charlotte. IF u check the winners on the NC lottery website, the winners r few and its not for that much money.

The school system in mecklenburg is really suffering now, with possible plans of cutting some of the public bus service. All i'm sayin is

lets c some big WINNERS down here n CHARLOTTE

Comment #7

savagegoose — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 10:47:03 GMT

yeah its why i said put the pay cost savings intop better prize pools, but you are right., a big jackpot pulls the money in like notheing else. even dopping the lower prizes for $5 , and adding them to the top tier prizes, ie jackpts would boost the percieved value., even tho that means most people wont win anything.

but anyhow pay cuts for execs would be last thing in their minds to improve sales.

Comment #6

reddog — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 00:22:07 GMT

They could start by doing better with the scratch offs. The pay offs are horrible. This year alone I have bought around 15 complete packs of different dinominations of scratchers and have NEVER got half my money back out of any of the packs. A pack cost $300.00 bucks. The best I did was $140.00 back. I can go across the state line into Virginia and do a heck of a lot better. Odds there are 1 in 3. N.C. is around 1 in 5. I don't care what the fine print saids. The proof is in the pudding.

Comment #5

Todd — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 21:27:09 GMT

Pay cuts always seem useful, but in actuality, dropping pay rates would do very little toward making up the lost revenue.

What really drives these figures is Powerball and Mega Millions. Without a $200+ million jackpot, the entire lottery's revenue suffers. Good lotteries can make up most of the lost revenue with lots of hard work coming out with new scratch games and other such things, but it is not easy.

It's been over 7 months since a Mega Millions jackpot was over $200 million, and ove... [ More ]

Comment #4

Stack47 — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 20:48:18 GMT

North Carolina needs a lottery director; are you up for the job

Comment #3

dpoly1 — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 15:00:50 GMT

In Pa there is no State Tax on Pa Lottery winnings ( and Pa generally taxes everything ). Sales seem to be steady.

I think maybe it is wrong to base your education budget on lottery sales, but it can't hurt to use the profits to aid education!

A cut in Non-Academic spending would help education budgets everywhere

Comment #2

savagegoose — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 14:45:45 GMT

tell em to put %20 pay cut on execs, and %5 on minions,. and put the money into higher prize percents.

leave allocations to schools the same and leave store allocations the same.

drop any state taxes on wins to half what they are now. or better yet drop em to zero.

Comment #1

pumpi76 — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 14:37:59 GMT

tell them to put a Pick2...Pick2 will overexceed/surpasse Pick3 sales...I dont know why not state does it...

N.C. Lottery making changes to counter weak sales

Lottery Post — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 14:24:34 GMT

Additional draws to be added in Feb.; search narrows for new director

North Carolina lottery commissioners estimated Wednesday the program will earn $40 million less than expected in the current year because of weak ticket sales another financial blow for a state education system already bracing for budget cuts.

The North Carolina Education Lottery Commission revised its sales estimate in approving a new budget. That plan projects the lottery will be able to provide about $402 million for