Recent high gasoline prices get much of the blame for a three-percent drop in Iowa lottery ticket sales. The lottery brought in $178 million dollars in the just-ended fiscal year. That’s down from $184 million the previous year.
Iowa Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer says sales were on track through April, but were sliced at the same time gas prices jumped and continued rising to a state record high of a $1.77 a gallon. More than half of the Iowa Lottery’s 2,650 retailers are convenience stores and gas stations.
Neubauer says most people have just so much money in their budgets and the Lottery sometimes loses if folks are running short on cash.Neubauer says the amount of money the Iowa Lottery is handing back to the state fell about two percent during the fiscal year.
The figure was still above $43 million, money that goes into the state’s general fund which provides money to a variety of programs.