- The Georgia Lottery closed out its fiscal year with an increase from last year’s sales making a record $1.24 billion in profits.
- This number can be attributed to the use of the lottery’s internet platform that has allowed residents to buy their tickets online during the nationwide closures from COVID-19.
ATLANTA – Not even a pandemic can sideline lottery sales in Georgia, with the state closing out its fiscal year with a record $1.24 billion in lottery profits collected.
Originally, the outbreak of COVID-19 produced a decline in sales in March as guidelines for social distancing to prevent the further spread of the virus was initially implemented.
However, through that lull, gamblers in Georgia decided to join their iLottery and purchase tickets online.
Prior to the Coronavirus Pandemic, the interest in internet lottery ticket sales was not as popular as people visiting their local retailers. With that no longer being an option and still wanting to play, April and May saw memberships for the online Georgia Lottery soar to a 50% increase.
This factored into the final $1.24 billion tally for the fiscal year, beating their 2019 total of $1.21 billion when Mega Millions sales were going crazy due to the enormous jackpot prize of $1.5 billion.
Residents of playing the Georgia iLottery outdid themselves this year, not allowing a little coronavirus to stop them from USA online gambling.
“Our team has been laser-focused on delivering the greatest amount possible to the state in a year where we first focused on outpacing 2019, the year of one of the largest jackpots in history, and then added COVID-19 challenges to our goal to surmount,” said Gretchen Corbin, Lottery President and CEO.
And the Georgia Lottery did just that. This increase is not surprising from a logical viewpoint once people began to warm to the idea of playing by way of the internet. Having to stay socially distant gave them more of a reason to sign up for accounts and have some fun by gambling as they normally would by going to a retailer but from the safety of their own homes.
It manages to bring regular lottery players a bit of normalcy in a unique situation.
Hungry Lottery Players Nationwide
While Georgia and Pennsylvania, which is another state with online lotteries, saw increased activity in April and May, states with an iLottery saw a jump when lockdowns were lifted as well.
Retailers had plenty of ticket sales not just for lottery games but for scratch-offs games too. In fact, California sold out scratch-off tickets so quickly they are sold out and won’t be able to have more to sell for at least the next month.
With sports betting and casino games being unavailable as most casinos are still closed and major professional sports have not fully resumed from their hiatus, lottery games are pretty much all that a regular local gambler has at the moment.
Lotteries across the nation reaping are the benefits and states without an iLottery taking note at the positives from what an iLottery can provide the economy, making future considerations a major possibility.