Just like many other sectors of the Keystone State’s online gambling industry, the Pennsylvania Lottery has also been feeling the pinch. Needless to say, this is a pretty huge blow for the state especially considering how important the lottery is to social programs for older Pennsylvanians.
The PA Lottery uses all of the revenue it receives to fund programs that are supposed to benefit the older members of the state through such initiatives as free or more affordable transportation, low-costs prescription assistance, home-delivered meals, as well as property and tax rebates.
As it stands, nearly a third of all the PA Lottery’s network of about 9,800 statewide retailers have closed down indefinitely due to the pandemic. The only ones that are still available or those situated at grocery stores and gas stations that sell tickets.
Now, online gambling in the Keystone State has been on the rise since the retail gambling facilities closed down and the same is true for the lottery. Even though the online lottery industry in the United States is still in its infancy, it has shown its potential as a significant revenue in several states. Online lottery gaming is just the icing on the cake and it has begun to pick up at a time when it is certainly a breath of fresh for lottery players.
Preparing for Post-COVID-19 Service Provision
As outlined above, the lottery’s contribution is very important to the state and its performance is, therefore, a key point of focus. Since the retail space is currently not an option, the lottery is doubling its efforts to make do with what the online space has to offer. However, this will not be enough.
“It’s important to note that the increase in online sales is not enough to offset the sales the Lottery has lost on the traditional side of the business. Just to put it in perspective, an estimated 70% of our business comes from our scratch-off sales. So, it’s our traditional products that remain the foundation of our business.”
PA Lottery spokesperson Ewa Dworakowski.
One of the things that the lottery has done to improve the revenue is by offering substantial deposit bonuses to online gamers. This temporary move gave players a 300 percent online deposit bonus for some uses. This would, of course, encourage more players to go online and try their luck at winning the lottery.
The COVID-19 crisis has been devastating for so many people and the disruption that it has caused cannot be overlooked. That said, while fighting it right now is very important, there needs to be a lot of preparation for what is to come after. The PA Lottery is certainly thinking and trying to stack up as much revenue as possible to ensure that the older Pennsylvanians that benefit from it are still catered for once the pandemic is contained and things go back to normal.