US News

HARD TIMES SPARK SURGE IN NY LOTTERY

ALBANY – Folks may be losing money on Wall Street, but they’re still dropping dollars on lottery games.

New York Lottery sales were up $177 million – or 3.2 percent – in the last nine months of 2008, fueled by growth in big-jackpot games and gains at video lottery parlors, like Yonkers Raceway’s Empire City.

The rise defies the trend in neighboring New Jersey, where lottery sales slipped 4 percent in the six-month period ending Nov. 30.

But it mirrors a rise nationally in sales of lottery tickets. Experts say that during tough economic times, people increasingly turn to lotteries.

Overall, revenue is up in 25 of the 42 states that have lotteries, according to Scientific Games, a maker of scratch-off tickets.

In New York, lottery officials say high fuel prices last year drove gamblers who might otherwise have patronized distant casinos to visit closer-to-home “racinos” at eight horse tracks around the state.

Racino revenue was up $73 million – or 12 percent – in the first nine months of the year.

More than two-thirds of that came from Empire City in Yonkers, which sent $362 million to the state in the same time period, an 18 percent increase over last year.

In fact, Monticello Raceway, which saw sales sink 8.3 percent, was the only racino to post a decline.

The lottery also collected 4 percent more from scratch-off ticket sales.

Sales from the 12-state lottery game, Mega Millions, rose 5 percent.

Revenue from the terminal-based game Quick Draw continued to slide, falling 3 percent. Sales of the traditional Lotto game sunk 21 percent.

“The jury is still out on how we’ll do for the full fiscal year,” Lottery spokesman John Charlson said. “We’re just getting into the worst throes of the recession now.”

While state officials claim profits from the $7.5 billion lottery system go to fund education programs, critics have long complained that the money simply gets dumped into the state’s general fund.

Gov. Paterson has proposed installing more video lottery terminals at Belmont Park and lifting restrictions on Quick Draw as part of his $121 billion budget proposal for next year.

He also wants the state to participate in more massive multi-jurisdictional – perhaps even international – lottery games. Currently, Mega Millions is the only such game in which New York takes part. With Post Wire Services

brendan.scott@nypost.com