The Rhode Island Lottery continues to see growth in its traditional lottery sales.
As a state with select online lottery games, iLottery sales are continuing to aid in year-over-year gains.
In fiscal year 2024, Rhode Island produced a record high in traditional sales, growing to just under $321 million.
Keno, instants see big sales gains
Traditional sales reported by the Rhode Island Lottery last year fell slightly under $321 million.
The new record was up 1.5% from FY23, which did $316.3 million in sales.
One of the key metrics for Rhode Island is its iLottery sales. Online games were first offered in the state in April 2020.
Unlike most other states, Rhode Island doesn’t provide online sales of its draw games. It only supplies eInstants and iKeno.
Previous years’ financial reports gave specific iLottery sales. In FY23, Rhode Island reported $12.6 million in online production. That was an increase of 32.8% from FY22’s $9.5 million.
However, FY24’s report didn’t separate iLottery sales from its retail counterpart. The online purchases are included in the instant and Keno categories.
Because of that, it should be no surprise that both games had a sizable increase in sales for FY24.
Instant games climbed from $124.3 million to $134.7 million. That was an 8.1% improvement.
Keno sales went from $88.8 million to $92.4 million YoY, a 4% jump.
Projecting FY24 iLottery total for Rhode Island
Though the iLottery numbers aren’t spelled out for us, we can get a sense of where they were in FY24.
Most states with online lotteries are seeing continued growth in their iLottery sales. It’s safe to assume that FY24’s numbers would be above $12.6 million.
By looking at the data Rhode Island has provided on instant ticket and Keno sales, along with its past iLottery performance, we may be able to connect some dots.
Since the April 2020 online launch, here is a look at all three categories’ sales:
| Fiscal Year | Instant Sales | Keno Sales | iLottery Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $112,643,821 | $69,826,851 | $1,305,682 |
| 2021 | $134,625,405 | $78,821,108 | $7,152,533 |
| 2022 | $130,562,609 | $89,730,021 | $9,498,777 |
| 2023 | $124,257,579 | $88,803,404 | $12,616,040 |
| 2024* | $134,373,606 | $92,382,750 | ???? |
*iLottery sales included in Instant/Keno sales for FY24
What we see in the numbers is that both instants and Keno recorded highs in total sales. Combined, the two games added over $13.5 million.
The online numbers grew by 31.8% from FY21 to FY22. They then increased 32.8% from FY22 to FY23.
If FY24 saw 32% growth, that would push iLottery sales to $16.7 million. If we were a little more conservative and said sales were about 25%, that would put the total at $15.8 million.
A safe target based on the growth rate in Rhode Island and improvement in the instant and Keno markets is $16 million in FY24 sales for iLottery.
Instants still growing for RI Lottery in FY25
With two months of sales data available, Rhode Island is seeing continued growth in its instants and Keno products for fiscal year 2025.
Through August, instants have recorded $22.6 million in sales. Keno has tallied $15.3 million in purchases for the first two months.
Keno is right on pace with last year, as it was also at $15.3 million through August 2023.
Instants are moving well ahead of last year’s pace, though. In FY24, the products had just $21 million in sales. Currently, FY25 is up 7.3%.
It’s reasonable to expect that to continue with nationwide trends showing online sales steadily increasing each year.
Photo by LightField Studios via Shutterstock
Graphic from the Rhode Island Lottery
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