PRINT THIS PAGE | E-MAIL THIS PAGE

Sunday, October 26, 1997

Big prize fails to turn lottery around

AUSTIN (AP) -- Excitement about last week's $55 million jackpot failed to reverse a seven-week decline in lottery receipts.

Through Thursday, ticket sales for this week were only $37 million, a figure that could mean the slowest week since $48.8 million worth of tickets were sold in April 1995.

Last week's lotto fever outbreak produced $91.3 million in sales for all games, including those unrelated to the big prize.

But that was millions less than the spending before previous megaprizes.

In the week before May 17, when the jackpot hit $50 million, the Texas Lottery sold $103 million in tickets. A $45 million prize March 29 drew $95 million in sales.

"Any time we have a decrease in sales it's a cause for concern," said Linda Cloud, the lottery's deputy executive director.

Lottery sales must average $77 million a week to meet state budget projections. Last week's $91.3 million in sales marked the first time that target was reached since the budget year began Sept. 1.

The week ending Oct. 11, with a $27 million jackpot and $68.1 million in sales, was the second-best in the period.

The near-consistent weekly shortfall has kept the total for the first seven weeks of the budget year at only $468.8 million, $70 million short of projections.

The Texas Lottery Commission will conduct a staff analysis of the sales slump when it meets Wednesday and will hear from lottery operator GTECH.

"We are extremely concerned about the recent decline in sales," said company spokesman Marc Palazzo, adding that GTECH will be ready with options to boost sales.

Cloud said sliding instant ticket sales brought down overall receipts during a big-jackpot week.

Instant ticket sales totaled $36.4 million last week, down 3.6 percent from the previous week. It was also the lowest since December 1995.

Some lottery officials have attributed the slump in part to legislative mandates cutting prize payouts and reducing the advertising budget.