In March 2019, the Kentucky Lottery's Scratch-offs sales topped $70 million. This beat a record that had stood for nearly three decades – previously the best Scratch-off ticket sales month in Kentucky Lottery history had been the first month of sales in April 1989, which finished at $68.1 million.
"Our first $30 price point Scratch-off game featuring our first-ever top prize of $3 million was extremely well-received by Kentucky players," said Kentucky Lottery President and CEO Tom Delacenserie. "We've spent the past two years increasing our marketing support, vending machine distribution, retailer plan-o-grams, ensuring 95% of new games are activated within three days of receipt, and dramatically reducing out-of-stocks. We also have an entirely new way we are managing our Scratch-off products that predicts what our individual retailers need and ensures their supply meets consumer demands."
"The combination of inventory management and best practice execution at retail by our sales and marketing team has made a big impact on sales of our Scratch-off product," Delacenserie said. "This ultimately provides a positive impact to the Lottery's contributions to fund Kentucky college scholarship and grant programs."
The record month occurred just six months following the Lottery's launch of Scientific Games Enhanced Partnership program for instant game management in September 2018. The full-category management program was the first such change in the Lottery's history, made by Delacenserie to help responsibly grow proceeds to education in the state of Kentucky, leveraging the success he experienced leading the Florida Lottery which also used the program.
Scientific Games Enhanced Partnership program covers every aspect of the Lottery's $613 million product line of Scratch-offs, including game development and portfolio management, advanced logistics for warehousing and distribution, and growing retail sales. Scientific Games' new state-of-the-art 41,000-square-foot warehouse in Louisville serves as its hub in the Commonwealth. In fiscal year 2019, retail sales growth of instant games is already tracking close to 10% year over year.
"We are proud that the Kentucky Lottery has already broken records after trusting the full category management of its instant Scratch-offs to Scientific Games," said John Schulz, Senior Vice President of Instant Products for the Company. "This program has been refined over the last several decades, in part by developing advanced technologies, and it is used by some of the top-performing lotteries in the U.S. and the world."
Creating the lottery industry's first secure instant game in 1974, Scientific Games is the world's largest supplier and manager of instant games, technology and services. The Company provides games, technology and services to more than 150 lotteries around the globe, including nearly every North American lottery.
