The Iowa Lottery Board approved a budget Tuesday that calls for a small increase in revenue in the next fiscal year. Lottery C.E.O. Terry Rich says the increase seems right given the economy. He says they’re projecting a one-percent increase in proceeds to the state.
Rich says many lotteries are seeing single and double-digit decreases in proceeds, but he says Iowa has not been hit as hard by the economic troubles as other states. Rich says the increase would build on what was a record year for revenue in the last fiscal year.
Rich says,”If we meet that budget in 2011, we will provide to the state almost 61-million dollars in optional revenue, that’s revenue that people consciously make a decision that they want to play and be a part of the Iowa Lottery.”
The Lottery is making a change for customers who redeem a winning ticket at lottery terminals. Rich says they will add a sound notification when a scanned ticket is a winner. Rich says the sound will say “You’re a winner”, and then “woo-hoo.” He says the way to ensure that you get the money that you’re due is to sign the back of the ticket when you turn it in.
The audible sound when someone cashes a winner was brought up when the State Ombudsman asked the Iowa Lottery to increase its security measures. The Iowa Lottery at the time said there was a concern the sound would alert people to a winner, and single that person out for someone who might want to go after the winner’s prize. But Rich says they’ve determined that won’t be the case.
Rich says they checked around with the other states that use sound to see if they had any problems, and he says they found that the players like the recognition. He says the sound will go off for all prizes. The new sound will be working at lottery terminals by October 19th.