Lottery news from http://www.unionleader.com/
Fueled by higher-priced scratch tickets and two gigantic Powerball jackpots, the state's lottery collected an unprecedented $262.3 million in revenues in its most recent fiscal year.
"It's a record for us," Rick Wisler, the lottery's executive director, said last week.
More choices and higher jackpots drove sales 15 percent higher during the state's fiscal year, which ended June 30, compared to the previous year.
The record haul also made bigger winners of the state's schools, which received about $79.5 million in lottery profits, a new milestone.
That allowed the state to surpass the $1 billion mark for the collective contribution of lottery profits turned over for education since the lottery's inception in 1964.
The $262.3 million in ticket sales -- an average $262 spent for every New Hampshire resident old enough to legally buy tickets -- was $34.3 million higher than the previous year and $23.2 million over budget projections.
"Every day, people are asking if we have anything new," said Emily Woolf Vallier, owner of Talbot Street Variety in Manchester.
The Candia Road store offers 32 scratch ticket games, from $1 "4 Leaf Luck" to $20 "Solid Gold."
Lottery officials "have made things more vibrant" by adding new games, she said. "The lottery was very quick to introduce a $5 Texas Hold'em ticket," she said. "That's the most popular $5 ticket."
Vallier sees crowds pick up when Powerball jackpots surpass the $100 million and $200 million mark.
During the state's last fiscal year, the multi-state Powerball enjoyed its two largest payouts. A $365 million jackpot was won Feb. 18 while a $340 million payout occurred Oct. 19, 2005. Another jackpot for $224.2 million on April 20 ranks as the seventh highest, according to Powerball's Website.
"Powerball (in New Hampshire) was up 47 percent over the prior year and it was all because of the jackpots," Wisler said. "That's something we can't bank on because we don't know if the jackpot will roll over."
►Losing tickets come up winners
Retailers sold $57.3 million worth of Powerball tickets in the most recent budget year compared to about $39 million for the 2005 fiscal year. The state had budgeted a little less than $39 million for 2006.
Weekly routine
Every Thursday, Donald Poulin conducts his weekly ritual. He buys $70 to $80 worth of tickets for Powerball, Megabucks and Pick 3/Pick 4.
"I take my chances," he said last Thursday. "I've been lucky, especially with the daily numbers."
His wife, Kathy, sticks to scratch-off tickets, plunking down $15.
Her $3 "Money Puzzle" ticket offered nothing but heartbreak last week, but a smile swept over her face when she scratched her "Blazing Bingo" ticket.
"Fifteen," she cried out inside Talbot Street Variety.
"Fifteen bucks is fifteen bucks," she said. "I spent $15 and got $15 back."
Breaking even was a win.
Two out of every three dollars in lottery revenue comes from scratch tickets, to the tune of nearly $176.5 million, nearly 10 percent higher than the prior year.
"It's immediate gratification," Vallier said.
Last October, the state introduced a $20 scratch ticket. In its first eight months, the ticket generated $22.7 million in sales, Wisler said.
"There's no doubt about it: the higher the price of the ticket, the higher your sales will go," Wisler said. "We've shown that over the years."
Despite 146.1 million to 1 odds of winning the Powerback jackpot, people still play and win, like the group of 100 cheese factory workers from Wisconsin who won a $208.6 million jackpot just this month.
"If 100 Cheeseheads can win a Powerball jackpot, why can't us?" Vallier said of the collective thinking.
Despite competition from charity poker and bingo, Wisler doesn't see them hurting sales.
And as one man who spent $20 on Powerball and scratch tickets put it: "It's easier than going to Foxwoods."
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