The Iowa Lottery managed to raise the bar in fiscal year 2024.
Wrapping up in June, the Hawkeye State reported a record-setting $489.9 million in lottery sales.
That was up over $8 million from a year ago, a 1.7% jump from $481.5 million in FY23.
Powered by growth in sales from both its scratchers and lottery draw games, the Iowa Lottery contributed $106.6 million in proceeds to the state.
Scratch-off ticket sales up nearly 3% in Iowa
While some state lotteries have been scrambling to improve on scratch sales, the Iowa Lottery saw a nice jump in purchases for FY24.
For the year, Iowa reported $302.1 million in scratch ticket sales, a 2.9% increase from last year’s $293.6 million.
That’s a big deal considering the scratch games represent nearly 62% of the total lottery sales.
Iowa has scratch price points that range from $1 to $50.
Among the available tickets are $5 games featuring the University of Iowa and Iowa State University.
Its partnership with Iowa athletics has helped drive scratch sales over recent years.
The increase in these sales helped make up for a notable decline in the InstaPlay category. These $1 to $30 games offered by the Iowa Lottery dropped from $31.8 million to $28 million year over year. That was a 12% decrease and the only major reduction for the state in FY24.
Powerball drives Iowa Lottery draw sales
Draw games held steady for the Iowa Lottery in FY24.
The state produced $159.8 million in sales for the year, up 2.3% from $156.1 million in FY23.
While it is growth, the rate is notably less than some of the other states we’ve seen thus far. Colorado draw sales were up 6.5%, while Maine was at 11.2%.
Massachusetts also saw a 3.7% jump in its draw business in FY24.
As has been the case across the country, Powerball did most of the heavy lifting for draw sales.
In Iowa, the multistate draw game was up nearly $12 million year over year. It represented over 48% of the total draw sales in FY24.
Here’s a look at the FY24 sales numbers from the different draw games and how they compared to FY23:
- Powerball: $77.3 million, up 17.7%
- Mega Millions: $39.1 million, down 10.5%
- Pull-tabs: $13.1 million, up 0.3%
- Pick 3: $9.1 million, down 0.3%
- Lucky for Life: $8.6 million, up 1.8%
- Lotto America: $6.7 million, down 35.4%
- Pick 4: $5.9 million, up 2.2%
Photo by LightField Studios via Shutterstock
Graphic from the Iowa Lottery
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