The Maryland Lottery produced a big month of sales in March.
Overall, the state had $258.2 million in game purchases. That was up 20.3% from last month and was a 4% increase from March 2023 ($248.3 million).
The surge in sales was aided by sizable jackpots from Mega Millions and Powerball, the two ultra-popular lottery draw games.
Maryland Lottery and Gaming Deputy Director John Martin noted during Thursday’s commission meeting that March’s sales helped the state make progress toward catching last year’s marks:
“March was a very strong month year over year on the lottery side. Primarily a function of significant jackpots for Mega Millions and Powerball, as well as Multi-Match. The strength of those three jackpots helped us narrow the year-to-date gap.”
Maryland now finds itself down 1.8% from last year’s total through nine months. For the year, Maryland has produced $2.06 billion in lottery sales. Last March, the state was at $2.09 billion.
Mega Millions, Powerball up $38 million in March sales
Mega Millions and Powerball saw a big boost in sales for March compared to a year ago. The month featured the first time in history both had a jackpot of at least $800 million at the same time.
The two combined for just under $38 million in sales last month. That was a 138% increase from the $15.9 million they generated a year ago.
Multi-Match was also up 46% in sales at $3.2 million. However, that accounted for just 1.2% of the total sales for the state last month.
The increase in the three draw games helped make up for a 6.5% decline in scratch-off sales. That equaled a loss of nearly $7 million for the retail instant win games.
Here’s a look at what each game produced for Maryland last month and how it compared to March 2023 sales:
- Scratch-offs: $99.7 million (down 6.5%)
- Racetrax: $29.1 million (up 3%)
- Pick 4: $25.0 million (down 7.7%)
- Keno: $24.8 million (down 11.8%)
- Pick 3: $20.4 million (down 11%)
- Powerball: $19.2 million (up 166.5%)
- Mega Millions: $18.8 million (up 115.2%)
- Fast Play: $7.5 million (up 10.1%)
- Pick 5: $5.7 million (up 1.6%)
- Multi-Match: $3.2 million (up 46.2%)
- Cash 4 Life: $1.8 million (up 2.2%)
- Instant Ticket Lottery Machine (ITLM): $1.6 million (up 11.8%)
- Bonus Match 5: $1.4 million (down 6%)
The profits from lottery sales for March were just over $67 million, a 13.7% increase from a year ago. For the fiscal year, Maryland has generated $543.9 million in earnings. That’s just under 1% lower than where it sat a year ago.
In Maryland, residents are allowed to buy tickets for lottery draw games online via a subscription.
Maryland Lottery gets new deal with Baltimore Ravens
As part of Thursday’s meeting, the commission approved a new licensing and merchandising contract with the Baltimore Ravens.
The new 2.5-year agreement will begin on June 1 of this year. It includes a Not to Exceed (NTE) amount of $358,250.
The licensing agreement will allow the Maryland Lottery to create two new instant games and one fast play game that feature the Ravens logo and branding.
Maryland will also be able to offer Ravens and NFL-related prizes as part of its promotion of the games.
Photo by PlayiLottery
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