Twenty-nine years ago, lottery tickets first went on sale in Kentucky. Nearly three decades later, the Kentucky Lottery Corporation (KLC) announced today the second-highest sales month in the history of the corporation.
Fueled by two large jackpots in Mega Millions and Powerball – in addition to near historic Scratch-off ticket sales – Kentucky Lottery sales for March 2018 were $104.1 million. This is second only to January 2016, when $105.1 million in sales were realized during the run-up to the world record-breaking $1.6 billion Powerball jackpot.
March Scratch-off ticket sales were surpassed only by the first month of lottery sales in the state. Scratch-off sales for the month were $60.3 million. This is second only to April 1989 when lottery sales first began with $68.1 million in sales.
In addition, three products saw their highest sales month in history:
• Pick 3 ($13.9 million)
• Keno ($8.7 million)
• iLottery Instant Play games ($1.1 million)
Kentucky Lottery President and CEO Tom Delacenserie said key changes in marketing efforts and Scratch-off products helped contribute to the increased sales. “We’ve reconfigured our marketing efforts behind game-specific ads which help increase awareness of new tickets, and we’ve changed our prize structure to add better prizes that players enjoy,” said Delacenserie. “Our retailers have also been hugely supportive in this effort. Around 90% of the new game launch tickets we shipped in March were on sale and ready for purchase within three days of being shipped. Combine this with the increased product awareness, and that’s how you set records,” Delacenserie said.
Delacenserie also pointed to new jackpot alert strategies which kicked in when both Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots were in excess of $400 million, and how increased media efforts also helped raise awareness of the games. “It’s been a great effort by our staff to reach these levels, and we know at the end of the day our work helps send Kentucky kids to college here at home. That’s an important cause which constantly drives us,” Delacenserie said.