BATON ROUGE – For the third quarter of fiscal year 2021, the Louisiana Lottery Corporation transferred nearly $62 million to the state treasury, bringing total year-to-date contributions to over $156 million – an increase of over 25% or $31.8 million from last fiscal year. This quarter, Lottery transfers also exceeded the state’s expectations by more than $20.9 million.
With revenue of $180,660,244, the Lottery’s total third-quarter state transfers for January -March 2021 were $61,986,841 or 34.31%. Since the Lottery began operations in 1991, it has brought in more than $11.5 billion in revenue and transferred over $4.1 billion to the state treasury.
In fiscal year 2021, the Lottery began adjusting scratch-off game prize structures, increasing prize payouts and adding more of the higher price-point games that have grown in popularity. That strategy has paid off exceedingly well, resulting in net gains for the state. In addition, concurrent advertised jackpots of $731 million for Powerball and $1 billion for Mega Millions helped fuel sales and transfers in January.
Local businesses who sell Lottery tickets also saw their compensation increase for the third quarter of the fiscal year. Retailer commission, incentives for cashing winning tickets and bonuses for selling winning tickets totaled $10,210,781 million for January through March of 2021.
Lottery ticket purchasers must be at least 21 years of age. Anyone with a gambling problem, or friends of anyone with a gambling problem, is encouraged to call toll-free 1-877-770-7867 for assistance. For security purposes, players should sign the back of their tickets after purchasing.