The Lotto Jackpot has been hit twice recently, paying $4 million. Hard to believe that the game was so difficult to win for such a long time and then, wham, 2 jackpot hits in a row.
The Texas jackpot game was introduced in order to increase profits. The TLC estimated that 5 to 10 million tickets would be sold every draw. Unfortunately, only the poor and the stupid played a game they were not likely to win.
Without admitting defeat, the TLC started looking around. They got a powerful state official to start a campaign to bring in Mega Millions or Powerball. Subsequently, Mega Millions was added. One commissioner wanted to get both games!
This, of course, drove a silver stake through the heart of Texas Lotto. It's been bleeding to death ever since. It should have died long ago, but lottery folks have a hard time admitting they were wrong in saying that players would support both games.
Players jumped on the MM bandwagon. Afterall, if you are going to lose, its better to not win $100 millon than a measly $10 million. The TLC estimated millions would buy MM tickets. The were wrong, as usual. Everything those people have tried to make an extra dollar has failed to produce the profits they predicted. If you have time, go to the Texas Lottery website, click on legal and read some of the past minutes.
The sales of Lotto Texas tickets dropped as more and more folks switched to MM. Currently, Lotto sales are around 2 million or less per draw. Last Saturday, less than a million ticket were sold, and the jackpot was still won - go figure. Hurricane Rita impacted on sales, particularly in Houston where millions of poor folks play the lottery - with a lot of success.
The TLC has promised a new game to replace Lotto Texas. I think they have finally realized that the game is a dead duck.
It will be interesting to see what they come up with. My opinion is that it will be game with a lot of promise but one that will be difficult to win. It will probably be dead before they spend millions to implement it.
A recommendation could be put forward at Wednesday's commission meeting.
If one would look at the overall sales figures for the past fiscal year, which are posted at lottoreport.com, one would see that all of the on-line games, except Pick 3, are in decline. Sales of scratch tickets are up. Going to be an interesting year, particularly when one of the commissioners is upset that state profits are below projections. To help increase profits, this same commissioner wants to reduce scratch ticket prizes. The acting director suggested going to 50 percent, down from the curent 70 percent, which would eventually cause lower sales.
If you doubt what I say, just read the minutes of the last commission meeting.