Editor’s note: This story was updated on May 29 to reflect the official launch of Jackpot.com into the New Jersey market.
The New Jersey Lottery continues to add more courier services in the state.
During Thursday’s state lottery commission meeting, Executive Director James Carey Jr. noted that in May, two new couriers entered the state’s market.
TheLotter.com began soft selling in the state as it prepares to make its full launch in NJ in the near future.
Jackpot.com has also recently been approved to operate as a courier in New Jersey, giving the state four couriers alongside Jackpocket and Lotto.com.
Carey Jr. is pleased with the services these brands provide and says the state will not hesitate to work with more options in the future:
“The New Jersey Lottery has partnered well with our couriers. We enjoy and get to take advantage of the advertising and the marketing that the couriers do. We look forward to more couriers entering the market.”
Jackpot.com officially went live for New Jersey Lottery players on Wednesday, May 29. The company’s CEO and co-founder, Akshay K. Khanna, said through a press release:
“We’re thrilled to announce Jackpot.com’s New Jersey launch, the sixth state that will feature our unique service. We are excited to help New Jerseyans play the lottery online with increased convenience, security, and safety.”
New Jersey becomes 6th state to include Jackpot.com
Thursday’s announcement of New Jersey authorizing Jackpot.com makes it the sixth state to use the courier.
NJ now joins Arkansas, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Texas.
TheLotter.com is a Malta-based courier service that is using New Jersey as part of its launch into the US lottery market. It is also working to be operational in Minnesota, Oregon, and Texas.
These courier services provide online sales of retail tickets, like lottery draw games.
Currently, New Jersey is in a bit of a standstill with progressing to an online lottery. The state lottery commission put the wheels in motion for New Jersey to join the other states with online lotteries, calling for fall 2024 plans.
However, legislators have been fighting that possibility with a pair of bills in ACR127 and A3759.
PlayiLottey reached out to the New Jersey Lottery for an update on the status of iLottery in the state, but the request didn’t receive an immediate response.
NJ hits over $300 million in lottery sales in April
April’s lottery sales in New Jersey continued to be positive.
Last month was highlighted by a $1.3 billion Powerball winner coming from the state. That was just after a $1.1 billion Mega Millions winner was also from New Jersey in late March.
For April, New Jersey reported $301.3 million in lottery sales. Though it was a big decline from March’s $348 million, the total was still up 4.5% from a year ago.
March also was the seventh-highest month in NJ Lottery sales history.
Here’s how the sales broke down by game in April and how they compared to April 2023:
- Cash Pop: $4.9 million, down 1.8%
- Cash4Life: $5.3 million, up 4.1%
- Fast Play: $4.3 million, up 7.4%
- Jersey Cash 5: $10.2 million, down 11.3%
- Mega Millions: $14.6 million, up 6.3%
- Pick-3: $32.6 million, down 4.4%
- Pick-4: $19.6 million, down 7.8%
- Pick-6: $5 million, up 4.3%
- Powerball: $36.3 million, up 156%
- Quick Draw: $8.5 million, down 1.5%
- Scratch-offs: $159.5 million, down 4.6%
Fiscal year New Jersey Lottery sales over budget
With April in the books, New Jersey sits at over $3 billion in sales for the fiscal year. In total, it is at about $3.08 billion, with two months remaining in fiscal year 2024.
While that total is down 1.9% from a year ago through 10 months, New Jersey is still 1.5% over its budgeted sales to begin the year. That has Carey Jr. pleased with what he’s seeing:
“I would say the New Jersey Lottery is having quite a strong year.”
Here’s a breakdown of how each game is performing this year compared to last:
- Cash Pop: $51.3 million, up 6.9%
- Cash4Life: $52.8 million, up 1.2%
- Fast Play: $48.4 million, up 21%
- Jersey Cash 5: $115 million, up 4.2%
- Mega Millions: $230 million, down 14%
- Pick-3: $322.5 million, down 2.5%
- Pick-4: $196 million, down 6%
- Pick-6: $71.2 million, up 40%
- Powerball: $341 million, up 24%
- Quick Draw: $80.1 million, down 5%
- Scratch-offs: $1.5 billion, down 6%
Though Mega Millions is down 14%, the game is still 31% over budget for the year.
Photo by Mehaniq via Shutterstock
Graphic from Jackpot.com
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