While big-figure lottery jackpots mean players keep their eyes on the prize, they aren’t the only ones holding out for a payday. States get a hefty cut of those big checks, too.
For traditional lottery dealings, the State of Delaware gets almost 30% of Powerball and Mega Millions sales before lottery overhead, said Helene Keeley, deputy director at Delaware Lottery.
Instant games like Play 3 and Play 4 have higher expenses, are more unpredictable and do not have set expenses like Powerball and Mega Millions do.
When jackpots are higher for instant games, “the state will get a slight advantage on those increase of sales,” she said.
The total share the state made from traditional lottery in fiscal year 2022 was $67,653,523 or 29.4% of the revenue. The Powerball cut of that was 10.2% and the Mega Millions cut was 4.8%, according to Delaware Lottery data.
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In fiscal year 2021, the state brought in $66,244,221 or 28.3% of traditional sales. Of that, 8.3% was from Powerball sales and 7.1% was from Mega Millions sales. Fiscal year 2020 brought in $56,045,765 or 30.2% of traditional sales, with Powerball sales contributing 7.7% and Mega Millions sales contributing 5.9%.
The Delaware lottery contributes its profits to the State General Fund. Since 1975, $5.8 billion has been transferred to the General Fund from Delaware Lottery proceeds. In fiscal year 2021, the Lottery’s contribution was $215.7 million, making it the state’s fifth-largest revenue generator.
