October saw the most successful sales month in the nearly 30-year history of the Kentucky Lottery. Lottery officials say the near-world record Mega Millions jackpot run plus a Powerball jackpot that rose to more than $680 million led to the record sales.
Overall sales for October were $115.5 million, which is $33.2 million (or 40.3%) more than budgeted. This shatters the previous record sales month from January 2016, when a world-record Powerball jackpot of $1.6 billion led to sales of $105.1 million.
This led to $34.4 million in monthly net income to the Commonwealth for the month, again a record. This surpasses the previous record, also set in January 2016 by $1.8 million.
Kentucky players hoping to win the $1.5 billion jackpot awarded in October spent $21.2 million on Mega Millions tickets alone. This exceeded the $3.8 million October budgeted sales for the game by $17.4 million.
Powerball ticket sales for the month were $13.3 million, which exceeded the budgeted sales for the game in October by $7 million (or 114%).
Lottery Scratch-off tickets also posted a solid month, realizing $55.1 million in sales. Thats $9.3 million (or 20.3%) higher than budgeted.
The Lotterys online sales portal also saw its highest sales level in the sites history, driven in part by the number of players going there for Mega Millions and Powerball tickets. Instant Play games online realized $1.5 million in sales, beating the old record by $300,000.
Lottery President and CEO Tom Delacenserie says they have a solid plan ahead for November to help sustain the forward momentum, as the states college students are counting on the lottery for scholarship and grant proceeds.
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