Ohioans spent about $252 per person, earning the state the No. 14 slot in the country for spending. Ohio was 10th in the nation in lottery revenue at nearly $3 billion, the study said.
“We strive to constantly innovate and offer a variety of entertaining products that appeal to a wide group of consumers,” said Ohio Lottery Commission spokeswoman Danielle Frizzi-Babb. “We’re proud that even after 45 years, Ohio consistently ranks in the top 10 in profit transfers to the state compared to the other U.S. lotteries.”
Residents of Massachusetts spent the most on the lottery in 2018. Many of the top 14 states are located in the Northeastern part of the country. North Dakotans spent the least on the lottery per capita at about $30 per person.
According to the Ohio Lottery Commission’s most recent comprehensive annual financial report, Ohioans spent $3.36 million in ticket sales in fiscal year 2019. The year before that, Ohioans spent about $3.1 million. The state’s fiscal year runs from July 1 to June 30.
From June 30, 2017, to June 30, 2018, Ohio generated about $990 million on video lottery terminal games. The state generated about $1.05 million on video lottery terminal games in fiscal year 2019.
The state made about $1.5 million on video lottery terminal games in fiscal year 2019. Sales from traditional lottery games in the 2019 fiscal year increased more than 6% from the year before.
Multi-state jackpot games, like Mega Millions and Powerball, totaled $3.56 million in fiscal year 2019. This is nearly a quarter more, or $67.5 million more, than the year before.
The commission’s comprehensive report attributes the growth in jackpot games to record-setting jackpots offered. The commission attributes other sales increases to the release of new games at various price points in fiscal year 2019 and strategic marketing.
A few years ago the Ohio Lottery Commission upgraded all point-of-sale terminals to take cashless transactions, Frizzi-Babb said. And in April, the commission made a new mobile cashing app to allow players to cash winning tickets from $50 to $5,000 at home.
Last year, the lottery distributed over $2.15 Billion in prizes to holders of winning tickets, according to the Ohio Lottery Commission.
Mike Brown, director of communications for LendEdu, said since the personal finance site started doing the lottery study in 2016, Americans have continued to spend more and more on the lottery.
“The economy was doing really well, the market was up and people had more disposable income to spend on the lottery,” Brown said.
Brown said that even though it is still too early to know the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, lottery spending in 2020 will likely be lower than in previous years because so many people have lost jobs and had to dip into their savings.
“It is safe to say that people are spending less because of the coronavirus and that probably includes the lottery,” Brown said.
The Ohio Lottery is already seeing changes because of the coronavirus.
Scratch-off Ohio Lottery tickets sales have soared during the coronavirus pandemic, so much so that they helped overcome losses from the closing of bars and racinos, according to the Ohio Lottery Commission.
The Ohio Lottery Commission reported total sales from traditional lottery games closed out the fiscal year on June 30 up $111 million from the previous year. Lottery revenue from the slots-like video machines at the seven racinos in Ohio was down nearly $80 million for the year.
Scratch-off sales totaled $148 million in February, the last full month before Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine began closing businesses, then increased to $162 million in April and to $216 million in May. Scratch-off games had sales of $1.874 billion this year, up from $1.663 billion the year before.
At the end of February the state’s seven racinos revenue was up 9% from the year before. Then the pandemic hit and racinos closed on March 13 and revenue ended the year down 23% from the year before. Keno finished the year down about 3%.
Scratch-off sales in May and June were about 50% over last May and June, the Ohio Lottery Commission said.
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