Lottery sales slump, payouts climb

Through the first quarter of fiscal 2025, sales at the Massachusetts Lottery are down 6% and the agency’s prize payout percentage is hovering at a five-year high.

The Lottery has sold about $1.441 billion worth of scratch tickets, draw game numbers and Keno combinations since the budget year started July 1, a decrease of $89.8 million compared to the same time period in 2023.

Executive Director Mark William Bracken reported to the Lottery Commission on Tuesday that fiscal 2025’s year-to-date estimated profit of $245.6 million is lagging the $315.9 million profit turned in the first quarter of fiscal 2024. After adjusting for a shift in the calendar, Bracken said the Lottery’s fiscal 2025 profit is running an estimated $64.8 million behind last year.

With sales in a slump, the Lottery is also paying out a greater percentage of its sales revenue as prizes. The year-to-date prize payout for the first three months of fiscal 2025 is 75.31% , compared to 72.62%  for the first three months of fiscal 2024. However, the Lottery said it has also paid out $31 million less overall so far this year compared to the same period a year ago.

The year-to-date prize payout percentage has been higher than at any point back to the start of fiscal 2021 since fiscal 2025 began with a 76.8% prize payout for July. It has trended down since, to 75.8%  as of August and 75.3% through September. The next-highest mark was the 74.1% recorded last November and December.

Looking only at September, Bracken told the commission that the $451.5 million in sales missed last year’s mark by $2 million or 0.4%. But players also claimed $25.7 million more in prizes last month than they did in September 2023, which contributed to an estimated $29.7 million decrease in net profit for this September compared to last.