Iowa Lottery sales more than doubled in the last 12 months according to a report released today (Wednesday), fueled in large part by those now-silent TouchPlay machines.
The Iowa Lottery recorded a 60 percent increase in sales of its products over the 12-month state fiscal year that began July 1st, 2005 and ended on June 30th of this year. TouchPlay machines were shut down on May 4th. But during their last 11 months of operation, those TouchPlay machines yielded $121.4 million in revenue for the state-run Lottery.
Total sales for all Iowa Lottery products — including Powerball tickets, scratch games and other products like the Pick Three game — amounted to nearly $340 million. That tops the Lottery’s previous sales record, set the year before, by about $129 million.
A Lottery news release indicates the state’s “take” from Lottery sales is nearly $81 million, an increase of about 58 percent over the previous year.
Lottery officials say Powerball ticket sales also jumped in the past 12 months because changes in the game brought bigger jackpots. Powerball sales in Iowa increased 31 percent compared to the previous state fiscal year.