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Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Audit: Wisconsin lottery ticket sales down

MADISON (AP) — Sales of state lottery tickets dipped about 3 percent in fiscal year 2006-07, according to a state audit released Tuesday.

The Legislative Audit Bureau’s annual review of the lottery blamed the decline on a smaller number of large Powerball jackpots. With fewer big pay outs, fewer people are buying tickets, especially online, State Auditor Jan Mueller said.

Powerball is administered by a multistate organization, but proceeds from ticket sales in Wisconsin go the Wisconsin Lottery.

The audit found online game ticket sales generated $208.7 million in the year that ended June 30, 2007, down from $223.3 million in 2005-06.

The audit also found the lottery paid out $291 million in prizes in the year that ended June 30, 2007. The lottery directed about $145 million to property tax relief that year, up from about $120 million the year before.

The lottery has provided about $2.6 billion in property tax relief since it began in 1988, the audit found.

Other findings included:

The lottery has paid out at least 50 percent of ticket sales as prize payments as required by law. It paid between 57 percent and 59 percent per year between mid-2002 and mid-2007.

Game development and production expenses dropped 14.1 percent over the past five fiscal years. The audit attributes the decrease to a contract the lottery signed with GTECH Corporation in 2004 to maintain the instant and online gaming systems.

Other expenses have decreased by about 17 percent over the past five fiscal years. Lottery staff said cost-reduction strategies, such as canceling the Super Money Game Television Show, have helped.