Florida lottery sales decline due to rising necessity costs in the state

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Increased costs for necessities may have led to a reduction in scratch-off lottery ticket purchases, as state economists reported a decrease in Florida Lottery sales during the past fiscal year.

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Ticket sales totaled $9.417 billion during the 2023-2024 fiscal year, which ended June 30. This figure is down from $9.8 billion in the previous fiscal year and falls $132.5 million short of expectations.

Despite being the fourth consecutive year with sales above $9 billion—bolstered by substantial jackpots in the multi-state Mega Millions and Powerball games—economists project sales to dip below $9 billion in the current fiscal year and the following two years.

A significant factor in the 2023-2024 decline was a 6% drop in scratch-off ticket sales.

Discussing this trend during an August 8 meeting of the Revenue Estimating Conference, Saba Igbal, senior economist in Governor Ron DeSantis’ office, said scratch-off sales have been influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent inflation.

“It’s kind of the story around COVID, the time of COVID, we saw the ticket sales really start to increase. So, people were kind of playing a lot more,” Igbal said. “And then in recent years, we’ve seen that kind of start to decline a little bit. Especially last year, probably as people now have to spend more on kind of the necessities, as things are kind of more expensive. So, we’ve seen the ticket sales kind of start to come down to reflect that.”

The numbers are part of a long-range financial outlook set to be presented Friday to the Joint Legislative Budget Commission, comprising House and Senate members. The outlook includes detailed data and analysis on various state financial issues for the 2025-2026, 2026-2027, and 2027-2028 fiscal years.

Lottery sales are expected to decline to $8.778 billion in the current 2024-2025 fiscal year, which began July 1, with projections indicating a gradual return to the $9 billion mark by the 2027-2028 fiscal year. Economists note that high jackpots in the Mega Millions and Powerball games are considered “one-time windfalls” and treated as independent events in forecasting.

In the past fiscal year, Powerball generated $750.9 million in sales for the Florida Lottery, driven by two jackpots exceeding $1 billion. Projections estimate annual Powerball sales in Florida will be nearly $500 million over the next five years. Mega Millions contributed $450 million in sales during the same period, with forecasts predicting about $300 million annually over the next five years.

The lottery contributes to funding education programs, and despite the drop in ticket sales in 2023-2024, it will send $28.2 million more than projected to the state’s Educational Enhancement Trust Fund due to earnings on investments and unclaimed prizes. Approximately $2.4 billion will go to the trust fund, marking the fourth consecutive year exceeding $2 billion.

However, this amount is expected to decrease to $2.095 billion in the current fiscal year and show minimal growth over the subsequent five years.

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