Wednesday, June 21, 2006

As reported by the Monterey County Herald: "One year after California joined
the multistate Mega Millions lottery game, sales have fallen short of
expectations, and the new game has hurt sales of the existing Super Lotto
program. "Combined sales of Super Lotto Plus and Mega Millions tickets are
likely to reach about $1.2 billion this year, short of the $1.4 billion
projected when California joined the 11-state game in June 2005, said
California Lottery acting Director Joan Borucki. ".The previous year, sales
of Super Lotto alone were almost $1.1 billion. This year, Super Lotto is
down to about $720 million, while Mega Millions is expected to come in
around $460 million. "That means Mega Millions cannibalized some sales of
the existing Super Lotto program as expected, but brought in enough of its
own sales to add at least $80 million to overall lottery revenue. "But
lottery officials remain convinced that joining the game was a good move
that is paying off for education."