Lottery Sales Rise to Records as States Wager for More Revenue
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Facing growing unemployment, record home foreclosures, declining tax revenue and an annual budget deficit that reached $3 billion, Arizona revamped a key money-making enterprise: the state lottery.
It held focus groups, introduced new games, printed fancier tickets, recruited new retailers, increased jackpots, plunged into social media and upped its advertising budget by almost 50 percent. The gamble paid off: Ticket sales rose 14 percent from fiscal 2009 to 2010 -- the largest increase in the country, according to Rockville, Maryland-based lottery research firm La Fleur’s. In the 12 months that ended June 30, sales were up almost 6 percent more to a record $584 million.