The Iowa Lottery says profits for the fiscal year that ended June 30th were the highest since the start of the organization in 1985. Lottery C.E.O. Terry Rich says they getting off to a slow start with the flooding that hit at the beginning of the fiscal year — but finished above their projections.
Rich says they will be ahead of projections by about 7%, which means around four million more dollars for the state than earlier projected. The lottery finished with 60.6 million dollars in profits. Rich had said in early June that they needed a good June to meet projections, and that happened.
Rich says May and June were "phenomenal" this year, and he says the structure of the Iowa Lottery allowed them to make some decisions that cut costs and saved money. Rich says the bottom line doesn’t include revenue generated with promotions the lotter did with other agencies to get people to travel to state attractions.
Rich says that promotion likely generated millions of dollars in tourism. He says another value the lottery brings that aren’t reported in the profit figures are the funds paid to the local lottery retailers. Rich says the Iowa Lottery will continue working to respond to the economic conditions. He says gas prices are a key.
Rich says if gas prices go higher, they directly impact the lottery sales. He says they are poised to at least have as good a year, if not better, than they had this last fiscal year. While the lottery profits that go back to the state increased in the fiscal year — lottery sales were down 2.4% percent from last year.