Keno sales finally rebound, Massachusetts Lottery says
Posted Apr 28, 2021
After taking a nosedive when restaurants and bars shut down last year, the Massachusetts Lottery said Keno sales have “stabilized” and are contributing to a “strong year” for the agency.
Keno, which is often played by people seated inside bars and restaurants and usually accounts for about 20 percent of the Lottery’s overall sales, is just one of two Lottery products that have seen a year-over-year decline in sales in fiscal 2021, a 6.8 percent drop. But Keno sales have topped their fiscal year 2019 levels for at least the last eight weeks. “We have been able to stabilize our Keno sales. They’re not at the same level, I don’t believe, that they would have been absent the pandemic and the impact that that’s had on small businesses across the commonwealth, as well as general economic conditions and activity for consumers,” Executive Director Michael Sweeney told the Lottery Commission.
Newsroom
Colin A. Young, State House News Service ·
January 27, 2021 at
10:00 pm
The Massachusetts Lottery saw greater sales and profit performance during the six months from July through December 2020 than it did during the same six months in pre-pandemic 2019, despite changes in consumer behavior and sharp restrictions on key Lottery venues like restaurants and pubs.
Having survived three months of depressed sales at the outset of the pandemic, the Lottery appears to have not only stabilized but found a new footing. The budget year that ended June 30 exceeded expectations and wound up as the Lottery’s third-best year in terms of revenue. And now, halfway into fiscal year 2021, sales and profit are both up compared to a year ago.
The lottery ticket display behind the counter at College Convenience on Huntington Avenue. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
The Massachusetts Lottery saw greater sales and profit performance during the six months from July through December 2020 than it did during the same six months in pre-pandemic 2019, despite changes in consumer behavior and sharp restrictions on key Lottery venues like restaurants and pubs.
Having survived three months of depressed sales at the outset of the pandemic, the Lottery appears to have not only stabilized but found a new footing. The budget year that ended June 30 exceeded expectations and wound up as the Lottery s third-best year in terms of revenue. And now, halfway into fiscal year 2021, sales and profit are both up compared to a year ago.