Lottery Gimmicks Not a Result of Lower Sales, Michalko Says

Flashy marketing gimmicks like radio call-in contests and prizes for retailers will highlight the next lottery game, but the state says it is not because recent sales have fallen below forecasts.

“We are really very much ahead of the (sales projection) curve . . . that we anticipated when the games began,” Lottery Director Mark Michalko said Monday.

Georgia-based Scientific Games Inc., the state’s ticket supplier and games consultant, projected weekly sales of from 1.9 million to 13.5 million more than what have actually been sold in the first six weeks of the current scratch-off ticket game, “The Good Life.”

But Michalko said Scientific Games’ forecasts were “not the lottery’s official projections. . . . I don’t know that we have any particular problem. This sales leveling off was very much anticipated, at least by me.”

Drop in Daily Sales

Daily sales of about 9 million in the first weeks of the lottery have dropped to about 3 million, Michalko said. But the drop-off due to waning interest has come more slowly than in other states with lotteries, he added. Michalko said total sales since the Oct. 3 start-up of the lottery have exceeded $1.9 billion. Half is going back to players in prizes, at least a third to public education, and the remainder to administration and promotion.

Michalko announced a Friday kickoff for the next scratch-off ticket game, “Easy Match,” which continues “instant” prizes of up to $100,000 each and overall 1-in-10 chances of winning anything.

New aspects of the game stemmed from constantly “looking at ways to augment marketing and promotional campaigns,” he said, rather than any direct response to problems or sales pace.

Costume Parties, Trips

A weeklong promotion on 11 stations throughout the state will give listeners a chance to win lottery tickets, as well as passes to costume parties in their areas and an expense-paid trip for two to California resort locations.

The game also offers retailers incentives to sell more tickets.

Prizes range from a $25 gift for matching average weekly sales of the previous game to being a “Spin Pal” at the grand prize drawing if the retailer has an increase in sales.

Being a “Spin Pal” means that a regular participant’s spin would also determine the retailer’s prize, which will range from $500 to $50,000. The retailer would not actually spin the wheel of fortune.