18 PUBLIC GAMING INTERNATIONAL • NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2022 A smaller multi-jurisdictional draw game created quite the buzz this past fall when its advertised jackpot eclipsed the starting jackpots for both Powerball® and Mega Millions®. Lotto America® surpassed its previous jackpot record of $22.82 million last September, before closing out the month of October with a jackpot above $29 million. Product Group leaders credit the addition of a third weekly drawing for taking the game’s jackpot growth to new heights. Lotto America first launched in 2017 with 13 participating lotteries: Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, and West Virginia. Initially, drawings were performed every Wednesday and Saturday after the winning Powerball numbers were drawn. The game has a simple premise – players pick five red ball numbers from 1 to 52 and one blue Star Ball number from 1 to 10. Players win a prize by matching one of the 9 ways to win. The $1 draw game quickly filled a niche in product portfolios as its debut happened just weeks after Mega Millions increased its base ticket price from $1 to $2. Since then, Lotto America has gained a loyal player base with its $1 ticket price and improved jackpot odds (1 in 25.9 million), compared to the larger national games (Powerball 1 in 292.2 million, Mega Millions 1 in 302.5 million). “Lotto America really does have a loyal following, especially in Minnesota,” said Adam Prock, Lotto America Product Group Chair and Minnesota Lottery Executive Director. “But like other rolling jackpot games, Lotto America faced jackpot stagnation challenges. With a $2 million starting jackpot, it could be weeks before the jackpot reached an enticing level that attracted occasional players off the sidelines.” Following the demonstrated benefits of adding a Monday drawing to the Powerball game, the Lotto America Product Group moved to expand the number of drawings to three nights a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, with the first Monday drawing taking effect on July 18, 2022. The result has been dynamic, week-over-week jackpot growth that has sent the grand prize into record territory. Weekly sales for the 52 weeks preceding the change averaged approximately $920,000. For the thirteen weeks immediately following the introduction of the Monday drawing, weekly sales averaged $1,521,000 – a 65% increase. The average advertised jackpot for the period after the addition of the Monday draw has been larger than the period preceding the change, likely accounting for some portion of the sales increase. To isolate the impact of the additional drawing, weeks with similar advertised jackpot amounts were compared. The period since the launch of the Monday draw (7/18/22 – 10/8/22) was compared to similar jackpot cycles. The first cycle being right after the game was introduced in 2017 (Cycle A, 12/27/17 – 3/10/18) and a second cycle from 2019 (Cycle B, 3/23/19 – 7/10/19). Weekly sales including the Monday drawing averaged 17.6% greater than Cycle A and 19.2% greater than Cycle B. “There is no doubt that Lotto America is reaping the same benefits as Powerball from increasing the numbers of drawings from bi-weekly to tri-weekly,” said J. Bret Toyne, MUSL Executive Director. “Similarly, we are not seeing any evidence that the additional drawing is cannibalizing Lotto America’s multiplier feature.” MUSLNEWS MULTI -STATE LOTTERY ASSOCIATION LOTTO AMERICA REACHES NEW HEIGHTS $1 draw game achieves record jackpot after introducing additional draw night Continued on page 37 Bret Toyne, MUSL Executive Director Adam Prock, Lotto America Product Group Chair and Minnesota Lottery Executive Director
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