Coronavirus doesn’t stop Georgians from buying lottery tickets

Coronavirus doesn't stop Georgians from buying lottery tickets

The coronavirus pandemic isn’t stopping the Georgia Lottery.

In fact, the lottery posted its highest sales week of the year from April 26 through May 2, Brad Bohannon, the Georgia Lottery Corp.’s vice president for government relations, told members of the Georgia House of Representatives’ Higher Education Committee Tuesday.

Sales for the month of April were up $7.4 million, or 1.8%, over April of last year, Bohannon said.

“We’re seeing increases for all product lines,” he said.

Bohannon attributed the strong numbers despite the COVID-19 outbreak to lottery customers adapting well to online sales and to most lottery retailers remaining open while adhering to the new social distancing requirements.

With the fourth quarter of the current fiscal year looking good, Bohannon predicted the lottery will end fiscal 2020 on June 30 by transferring $1.113 billion in profits to Georgia’s HOPE Scholarships and pre-kindergarten programs. 

“We feel very confident we’ll be able to show another increase in May,” Bohannon said.

Bohannon said the lottery corporation soon will reopen its offices around the state by appointment only to distribute prizes to winners.

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