Wisconsin Legislative Audit Bureau
98-8 Wisconsin Lottery, Department of Revenue
Summary
Since August 1995, the Department of Revenue has managed the Wisconsin Lottery. After completing a statutorily required audit, we issued an unqualified opinion on the lottery's financial statements for fiscal years (FYs) 1995-96 and 1996-97. As part of that audit, we also analyzed a continuing decline in ticket sales, the State's efforts to improve sales, and the Department's sales projections for the current fiscal year.
Neither State Efforts Nor a Large Jackpot Has Improved Overall Sales
Annual Wisconsin Lottery sales peaked in
It is typical for sales to plateau or decline as lottery markets mature: among the 30
jurisdictions with lotteries as old as or older than Wisconsin's, 26 experienced declining
sales before their eighth year of operations. In an effort to improve lottery sales, the
Department released more games in
However, the strongest factor affecting on-line ticket sales appears to be large
jackpots. For example, weekly sales increased dramatically when the multi-state Powerball
game recently offered a jackpot of approximately $195 million. Between July 1997 and
April 1998, Powerball sales in Wisconsin had averaged $4.0 million per month.
However, in the week before the largest jackpot on record was won, Wisconsin Powerball
sales increased to $10.4 million, and total sales for May 1998 exceeded
$20 million. Nevertheless, the Wisconsin Lottery's total
Declining Sales Reduce the Amount Available for Property Tax Credits
According to the State's constitution, proceeds from lottery sales must be distributed
as property tax relief. Since
In FY 1996-97, only farmland tax credits were distributed because a court ruled that
the distribution methodology for the property tax credits was unconstitutional; as a
result, lottery proceeds from two years were available in
****
How to Order This Report | Back to Reports Page | Back one page |