Maryland Lottery Subscription Services Down Nearly 6% Over The Last Year

The Maryland Lottery has seen a fluctuation in subscription services during the last year.

This week, the state reported it had 6,757 active subscriptions at the end of April.

That number is down nearly 6% from a year ago. However, it is up 1.2% from January.

Though the Maryland online lottery doesn’t offer full iLottery services, it does allow its players to sign up for subscriptions.

It’s steady business for the state, which has been providing these options for over 30 years.

Active subscriptions decline for Maryland Lottery

Each month, the Maryland Lottery and Gaming Commission releases a report on the number of lottery subscriptions processed and the number of total active subscriptions at the end of the month.

Both numbers go through ups and downs throughout the year, but remain somewhat consistent in number.

Here’s how they looked over the last 13 months:

New subscriptions are pretty constant, over 1,000, while active subscriptions varied from around 6,700 to 7,100.

What does a lottery subscription service consist of?

The Maryland Lottery’s subscription services go back a long way, dating back to the 1990s.

Subscriptions are available through the state’s My Lottery Rewards (MLR) website.

Users can play numbers for 13, 26, or 52 weeks for select lottery draw games. Those are Cash4Life, Multi-Match, Mega Millions, and Powerball.

Once a player creates a profile, they fill out their subscription form based on the game, the number of weeks they want to play, and how many tickets they wish to submit per drawing.

Prices start at $2. Multi-Match, Mega Millions, and Powerball each have two drawings per week, while Cash4Life has daily drawings.

Once they fill out their subscription form, they print it out and mail it to the lottery offices along with payment. The Maryland Lottery doesn’t accept online payments for subscriptions.

From there, the lottery scans a barcode on the subscription form to activate it.

Any winnings from your subscription will be tallied in your MLR account. When your prizes exceed $100, the lottery will send a check to you for the full amount. If you win $600 or more in any drawing, you will receive an email with instructions on how to claim your prize.

Any remaining prize money won under $100 will be mailed to you when your subscription ends.

To extend a subscription, customers will have to submit another form and mail in their payment.

April lottery sales up nearly 4% in Maryland from a year ago

The Maryland Lottery continues to try and close the gap on last year’s sales following a solid April showing.

Last month, the state reported $234.2 million in sales, which was up 3.9% from April 2023 ($225.3 million).

With April’s total, Maryland sits at $2.29 billion in sales, with two months remaining in the fiscal year. Overall, that is 1.3% down from its performance from a year ago for FY23.

Powerball was the big driver last month, more than doubling its sales from last April.

Here’s how the game sales looked for Maryland last month and how they fared compared to a year ago:

• Scratch-offs: $93.6 million, up 0.8%
• Racetrax: $27.4 million, up 4.9%
• Keno: $24.3 million, down 3%
• Pick 4: $24.1 million, down 6.9%
• Pick 3: $19.6 million, down 7.6%
• Powerball: $16.9 million, up 110.1%
• Mega Millions: $8.1 million, up 7.7%
• Fast Play: $8.0 million, up 15%
• Pick 5: $5.6 million, up 1.7%
• Multi-Match: $2.2 million, up 19.1%
• Cash4Life: $1.7 million, up 4.7%
• Bonus Match 5: $1.4 million, down 3.8%
• Instant Ticket Lottery Machines: $1.4 million, up 0.2%

Photo by lucadp via Shutterstock
Graphic from the Maryland Lottery