TRENTON – The New Jersey Lottery today announced record sales of just over $3.48 billion during the Fiscal Year that ended on June 30, 2019, an increase of approximately 5.5% compared to the prior year.
According to a statement released by officials, the lottery generated more than $1.06 billion in profits for the state, which are dedicated to bolstering New Jersey’s public employee pension system for teachers, police, fire personnel, and other public employees.
The results are unaudited figures and the total amount of the final contribution to the state is expected to increase when the Lottery’s Fiscal Year 2019 financial audit is complete.
Highlights during the past year include:
Total sales increased to just over $3.48 billion, compared to $3.29 billion in FY18, a 5.5% increase.
The contribution to the state’s public employee pension system increased to $1.060 billion, compared to the final contribution amount of $1.030 billion in FY18, a 3% increase.
Traditional Lotto games sales (including Mega Millions, Power Ball, Pick-6, and CASH4LIFE) increased to $635 million from $516 million the prior year. The increase was driven by the record-setting $1.6 billion Mega Millions jackpot in October 2018, and by strong Pick-6 sales.
Prizes paid to New Jersey players totaled $2.08 billion, including a player from Alpha, who won $267 million in March playing Mega Millions and a family from Bayonne who won $29.5 million playing Pick-6 in December.
The Lottery paid commissions to more than 7,000 retailers totaling $197 million.
Officials say in addition, in May 2019, the Department of the Treasury and the Lottery entered into an amended service agreement with the Lottery’s sales and marketing vendor, Northstar New Jersey Lottery Group, which is projected to save approximately $100 million over the life of the contract with Northstar.
The amendment to the contract increases the performance targets that are used to calculate any incentive payment to Northstar, thereby creating a higher performance bar to be reached before Northstar receives an incentive payment.
The total amount of the incentive payment to Northstar for Fiscal Year 2019 will be determined when the Lottery’s financial audit is complete.