The Hoosier Lottery is being very conservative in its expectations for the new fiscal year that begins July 1.
That’s despite lottery revenues regularly outperforming expectations for years, dating back to the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With many other entertainment options shut down during the pandemic, Hoosiers started playing the lottery in greater numbers. That led to a 25 percent increase in revenues in a single year.
Most people expected sales to dip after that. But Hoosier Lottery Executive Director Sarah Taylor said they’ve stayed relatively steady.
“When we attracted some new folks to the Hoosier Lottery during the pandemic … part of it is, I think, retaining those folks,” Taylor said.
READ MORE: Hoosier Lottery on track to send second highest revenue amount ever to state this year
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Still, the lottery budget projects lower revenues in the upcoming fiscal year than what the lottery earned each of the last three years. And Taylor said part of that is the influence of big games – Powerball and Mega Millions.
“You still don't know how the multistate jackpot games are going to run, what big runs they're going to have," Taylor said. "And so, it's important not to overestimate.”
Those jackpot game prizes hit at least $1 billion three different times this fiscal year.
Brandon is our Statehouse bureau chief. Contact him at bsmith@ipbs.org or follow him on Twitter at @brandonjsmith5.