The most profitable state lottery system in the country has re-upped its long-standing relationship with its primary scratch-off game provider.
According to a recent press release, the New York Lottery and Scientific Games agreed to a new contract that keeps the partnership in place, one that has stood since 1976.
The renewed deal will see Scientific Games continuing to provide the NY Lottery “with consumer and product research and data analytics, game development and portfolio planning to help ensure the success of the Lottery’s scratch-off games,” per the announcement.
“The New York Lottery is proud to continue its partnership with Scientific Games,” Gweneth Dean, director of the New York Lottery, said in a statement.
“For decades, our collaboration has resulted in billions of dollars for New York’s public schools, and we look forward to creating exciting new games for our players and supporting our dedicated retailers across the state.”
‘More decades of success’ in store for NY Lottery, Scientific Games
As noted, Scientific Games and the New York Lottery first partnered nearly 50 years ago, eventually evolving into Scientific Games providing “world-leading instant scratch-off games” to NY lottery players.
Certainly, this tandem helped the New York Lottery grow into the eighth-largest industry in the world for instant scratch game sales. According to the press release, New York’s scratch-offs became a $4.4 billion product in the 2022-23 fiscal year, allowing the lottery to “contribute billions” in funding for education in the Empire State.
With Scientific Games in its corner, the NY Lottery began providing “a well-balanced scratch-off portfolio” that boasted three price points ranking in the top five in the US for weekly per capita sales.
“We’re honored to continue as the primary scratch-off game provider to one of the world’s most successful lotteries and support their important mission to fund education for New York students,” John Schulz, president of Americas & global instant products for Scientific Games, said in the press release.
“Our long-standing, strategic partnership has continued to bring entertaining scratch entertainment experiences to players in the state, and we look forward to many more decades of success together.”
How New York Lottery could grow even more
In its Fiscal Year 2022-23 Year-End Review, the New York Lottery detailed how lottery and video lottery gaming operations combined for $10.5 billion in sales and net win, leading to some $3.7 billion generated for public schools.
Since 1967, according to officials, the lottery has contributed over $82 billion toward education.
Scratch-off games represented the biggest money-maker for the lottery, as officials noted that those games topped $4.4 billion during the fiscal year, resulting in just over $951 million in education aid.
While it boasts the biggest lottery industry in North America, New York could still grow.
Recall this past legislative session when Sen. Joseph Addabbo introduced a bill to legalize not only online casinos in New York but also internet lottery.
That proposal ultimately fell short of passage in 2024. But Addabbo will no doubt continue conversations to get that legislation across the finish line.
