WASHINGTON: The West Virginia Lottery has seen a $55 million decrease in gross Lottery revenues so far this fiscal year, after April’s revenues came in about $7 million lower than last year. “Our traditional sales are down slightly over last year,” said Randy Burnside, public relations manager for the Lottery, at the state Lottery Commission’s meeting on Wednesday. “A lot of that is because last year, we had a run up to a $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot that really drove sales for that game through the roof for an extended period of time.”
Year-to-date gross Lottery revenue of $898.26 million is down nearly 6 percent from the same point in April 2016. Also, year-to-date revenue from online and traditional scratch-off games has declined by $21.61 million, racetrack video lottery decreased by $15.88 million and limited video lottery revenue decreased by $13.07 million from this point last year. “When you look at the year to date, it’s a little misleading,” Burnside said. “We haven’t had a jackpot run to counteract that at this point in the year.” In April, the Lottery’s gross revenue of $89.94 million was down 7 percent from April 2016. Also, revenue from online and traditional scratch off games decreased by $1.3 million, monthly racetrack revenue decreased by $3.01 million and limited video lottery decreased by $1.74 million compared to April last year. “We’re still experiencing increased competition from casinos in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Maryland,” Burnside said.
However, he said the December 2016 opening of MGM National Harbor casino in Maryland had not impacted the Hollywood Burnside Casino in Charles Town as much as projected. “Charles Town is holding its own and doing very well,” Burnside said. “We don’t project there to be any further erosion there. We think Charles Town has weathered that new opening very well.” Also at the meeting, the commission voted to issue an $852.41 fine to Desmad LLC, operator of The Inn at Pettyjohn in Fairmont, for having less money than it owed to the Lottery in its bank account from limited video lottery revenues at the end of the month.
