Missouri Lottery is fighting a $11 million ad budget cut listed in Gov. Mike Parson’s proposed state budget. That would constitute a 68% cut. The lottery is stating that such a cut could hurt their ticket sales, citing a potential $35 million could be lost in profits to good cause. The agency’s advertising budget represented 1.15% of the lottery’s $1.396 annual sales in fiscal 2018 (ended June 30).
The Senate Appropriations Committee has asked the lottery to prove a cut would hurt lottery sales. The lottery’s Chairman, Paul Kincaid, could not provide hard data.
Dan Haug, Parson’s budget chief, said in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: “The lottery is very mature. People see the lottery every time they walk into a convenience store. How effective are those additional advertising dollars?”
If you’ll excuse us from editorializing for a moment: very.