Monday, March 01, 1999
Lottery hopes daytime drawings will spark interest
River casinos lure bettors from games
The Associated Press
LEXINGTON, Ky. — The Kentucky Lottery will offer midday drawings for the first time in its 10-year history in an effort to combat increasing competition from floating casinos on the Ohio River.
Beginning March 15, the lottery will conduct a midday prize drawing every day except Sunday for the Pick 3 and Pick 4 games. Lottery officials also are discussing holding daily prize drawings in the Cash 5 game.
Gambling opponents may grumble at the addition of lottery opportunities, but officials say they are under a mandate to make as much money as possible for the state. The lottery turned over $153 million to the state in the 1998 fiscal year.
“We do have to look for new and innovative ways to keep our revenue up,” said Rick Redman, spokesman for the Kentucky Lottery Corp.
Five riverboat casinos on the Ohio River along Kentucky's northern border have made that a difficult task. The newest, near Louisville, is the largest casino boat in the world.
Lottery Chairman Laurence T. Summers of Lexington has warned that it will be difficult to sustain lottery sales — and payments to the state — unless lawmakers let the lottery put new types of games in place.
The lottery predicted sales of $577 million this fiscal year, the same as the projection for fiscal 1998. It was the first time the lottery hadn't set its sales goal higher than the year before.
The lottery beat its 1998 goal, finishing the year with $586 million in total sales. This year, however, officials predict sales will come in about $23 million below the $577 million projection.
“Realistically, as a long-term proposition, we have to have better ways to meet the competition,” Mr. Summers said.
Officials claim they need new options because competition from the riverboats comes at a time when the lottery has been around for nearly 10 years and some of the games are not considered fresh by players.
One example is Lotto Kentucky, the first online game for the state lottery. The lottery started in April 1989 with instant-ticket sales and added Lotto Kentucky in October 1989.
There have been odds changes for Lotto Kentucky over the years, but the game has been in the same form for 10 years, and sales are flat. The lottery's budget projects that Lotto Kentucky sales for fiscal 1999 will fall $12 million below actual sales from the previous year.
Jackpots depend mostly on sales, so sluggish sales have been a factor in jackpots going up more slowly this year than at any time in the lottery's history.
Kentucky's new midday Pick 3 and Pick 4 drawings are expected to increase profits. Pick 3 is one of the lottery's most popular games, finishing the last fiscal year as the second-largest money maker behind instant tickets.
Staring March 15, there will be a drawing for both games at 1:20 p.m. Monday through Saturday, as well as the nightly drawings at 10:57 p.m.
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