Arizona's lottery sales make state $141M richer

Thursday, August 10, 2006 posted 03:44 AM EDT

PHOENIX — Arizonans are pumping a record amount of their cash into pick tickets and scratchers.

But the state's top lottery officials believes sales just can't keep up at this pace.

Figures released Wednesday show sales in the fiscal year that ended July 31 at $468.6 million, an increase of close to 18 percent over the prior year.

Lottery Director Art Macias said that after expenses, including what retailers keep, that's a net profit of more than $141 million.

That brings the total net take in the lottery's 25-year existence to close to $2 billion.

Macias acknowledged, however, that 18 percent growth in one year is an anomaly, and his staff is predicting sales this year will be just $447 million — a drop of nearly 5 percent.

The difference, Macias said, is largely related to Arizonans going after the big money.

He said multistate Powerball prizes topped $100 million in the past year. Those kinds of pots tend to drive up sales, he said.

Powerball sales went up 48 percent over the prior year.

The same factor also helped 30 other Powerball-playing states. The Oregon Lottery reported earlier this week that its sales topped $1 billion a year for the first time ever.

Most of Arizona's net profit goes into the state's general fund for the Legislature to divide up. But several programs, ranging from road construction and rural health care to the Heritage Fund also get their own share.

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