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Rhode Island news

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Some lottery revenues fall millions

01:00 AM EST on Wednesday, November 28, 2007



Projo.com staff report

Revenue from state video lottery games, helped by the renovated Twin River in Lincoln, rose $91.2 million during the last fiscal year.

But revenue from online and instant lottery games was down about $16 million.

Those figures, along with expenses, according to a state audit of the Rhode Island Lottery released yesterday, mean the Lottery’s contribution to the General Fund is down about 1 percent, to $320.9 million.

The Lottery, a division of the state Revenue Department, had about $78 million more in expenses in fiscal year 2007, which ended June 30, than in the previous year. The bulk of these expenses came from larger payouts, according to Daniel Sarro, the financial administrator.

The Lottery paid out about $80 million more in prize money in fiscal 2007 than in fiscal 2006. But that, Sarro said, was not what led to the decrease in the Lottery’s contribution to the General Fund.

“How much we can turn over to the state to help with programs is based on the amount of sales,” he said. “The prizes, you really don’t have control over.”

Sarro did not have a concrete reason for the drop in sales but suggested general economic conditions were to blame.

“The more people pay for fuel,” he said, maybe “the less money they have for Powerball and so on.”

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