California Lottery is booming, thanks to higher payouts

Comment #20

Drivedabizness — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 22:42:15 GMT

They stopped it because no one used it

(I worked closely wth the CA Lottery from 1988 - 2004. So I know just a little bit about it)

We proposed higher payouts ever since 1999. The Lottery should be able to do $5 Billion a year. Doing away with Keno (as messed up of a court ruling as I've ever seen) cost them over $300 million per year in sales - about a hundred million for schools.

I hope Jerry doesn't try to tax JP winnings - it would negatively impact sales.

Comment #19

jamella724 — Sun, 19 Jan 2014 23:51:07 GMT

Higher pay-outs, more players, higher revenue, more money for education, simple as that. And even if the percentage for education programs was decreased, if the revenue pool is higher then obviously the part for education will be higher than usual. And it is heart-warming to know that unclaimed prizes still go to school funds.

Comment #18

myturn — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 01:20:03 GMT

They should reintroduce a subscription service, they had one a few years ago, I don't know why they stopped it.

Comment #17

helpmewin — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 10:16:54 GMT

Thank you California Lottery

Comment #16

whiteballz — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 09:16:30 GMT

I'll get right on that. I'll let you know what insights my investigation yields.

Comment #15

rdgrnr — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 04:49:38 GMT

I'm looking forward to reading your current events.

Will it be in your Lottery Post Blog

Comment #14

rdgrnr — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 04:47:36 GMT

They better keep a low profile on all of those winnings or Governor Moonbeam will want to confiscate part of 'em to cover all of those massive pensions the California politicians wrote into law for themselves.

Comment #13

malin1257 — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 20:28:40 GMT

Re NJ - some food for thought. A NJ company is the supplier of the large lottery game machines. Don't know if they are the mfg of the machines or not.

Go ponder.

Comment #12

Jon D — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 14:45:05 GMT

And I'm sure you're not alone. It takes lots and lots of people losing to make it possible for a few to win big.

Even though MA has the highest payouts, its still horrible for most people compared to other forms of gambling like casino and poker.

I actually don't think the lottery should be trying to keep increasing lottery revenues and expanding player base year after year. The lottery should be limited. It is not really gambling, it is fundraising with a gambling twist and a heavy built... [ More ]

Comment #11

shyguitar — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 14:20:56 GMT

Hi Jon D,

You mentioned MA as an example of highest prize payouts but if that really is the case I've never benefited from it. When I had played scratch tickets I rarely won anything and when I did win something it was just the same amount as what I payed for that scratcher.

Comment #10

RedStang — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 06:08:48 GMT

LOL I bet he's a happy dog.

Comment #9

sully16 — Tue, 07 Jan 2014 00:46:31 GMT

My dog Sam eats purple flowers

Comment #8

pickone4me — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 21:16:21 GMT

Yes, if they win that often in one year, something ain't right with that either. I'd love to inspect those lottery balls for pb and mm's.

Comment #7

ressuccess — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 21:07:14 GMT

Congratulations to this jackpot winner. This will be part of the current event.

Comment #6

LottoMetro — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 18:50:43 GMT

New Jersey has been in Mega Millions for 6 years longer than California. A little over 3 years longer for Powerball, too. And although their population is much smaller, their lottery participation rate is higher. Their draw sales for big games range from about only 2 times less to nearly half of California's sales.

I did not realize California's payout rate was originally so small. My state has awful games yet pays out about 60% or so.

Comment #5

mrcraft — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 17:47:31 GMT

How about New Jersey? If you look at the top 25 largest jackpots (by annuity value) in the United States, New Jersey produced 6 winners while California produced 3 including the latest from San Jose. Keep in mind, New Jersey has about 1/4 the population of California.

https://www.lotterypost.com/news/269858

New Jersey - 6 winners

Illinois - 3 winners

Georgia - 3 winners

New York - 2 winners

I don't see anything unusual with California producing 3 winners.

Comment #4

pickone4me — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 16:54:40 GMT

I want someone to investigate why california constantly wins the big national lotteries. I don't believe for a split second that its because more people are playing there either. I have seen state lotteries with people winning in no name small towns.

Comment #3

Shelby Mustang — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 16:31:40 GMT

That's good if you live in California I guess...I live here in NC so the only state I give a hoot about winning is mine LOL, but hey God bless all the winners and I hope to join their ranks one day

Comment #2

Jon D — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 14:28:17 GMT

Right. This is a proven formula: introduce games with higher payouts, results in increased revenue for public funding. Duh!?

Make games with higher percentage of sales going to prizes, and lower percentage of sales going to public funding. But public funding can actually be increased due to higher overall revenue of boosted sales from better prize payouts to players.

Still, CA has a long way to go. Among the big top 10 states for lottery sales, where does CA rank in sales per capita? Dead

Comment #1

RedStang — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 14:16:02 GMT

I put a flower in my hair and got stung by a bee. Yaa California. They should of done this along time ago.

California Lottery is booming, thanks to higher payouts

Lottery Post — Mon, 06 Jan 2014 12:51:02 GMT

After years of decline, the California Lottery is booming. The jackpots are bigger, and that's drawing more players and excitement.

Just a few weeks ago, a Mega Millions ticket sold in San Jose matched all six numbers. The state-record prize of $324 million worth about $174 million in a single payment was claimed by a Northern California man Friday.

The turnaround is due to changes made to the lottery in 2010, when revenues were on the decline. The changes brought bigger prizes, but they a... [ More ]