New Jersey Lottery Contributes a Record $1.17 Billion to the State

FY23 Also Generated Record Sales of $3.7 Billion

TRENTON (Feb. 12, 2024) – The New Jersey Lottery released its finalized Audit Report for Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) today, reporting a record $3.73 billion in sales, a 2.55% increase over the previous year. The report is available for review on the Lottery’s website.

The strong sales led to the Lottery’s largest ever contribution of $1.17 billion to support New Jersey’s public employee pension system for teachers, police, firefighters and other public employees. This is the sixth time the Lottery’s contribution has surpassed one billion dollars.

The record sales were driven primarily by Mega Millions, which had sales of $293.7 million, a 99.4% increase compared to the previous year. Powerball had sales of $308.6 million, a 28.1% increase over the previous year. Both multistate games had several huge jackpots that increased sales. Scratch-offs sales exceeded $2 billion for the third year in a row, but were down slightly compared to last year. Pick-3 and Pick-4, the classic numbers games and key components in the Lottery’s portfolio of games, were both down approximately 7.9% and 8.7% respectively. The Lottery is always looking to the future and considering several innovative possibilities to attract the next generation of players, specifically focusing on New Jersey-only games.

“We are pleased with the successful year. For players, nothing compares to seeing jackpots reach previously unimagined heights. As always, we do not accomplish this work on our own. Our retail partners are the daily face of the Lottery and they must be applauded for their hard work, as should all our vendors who help us reach our goals,” said Executive Director James Carey. “While multistate game sales surged this fiscal year, those gains must be kept in perspective with New Jersey-only game sales. We are constantly looking at new ways to improve the Lottery’s games and player experience.”

The Lottery’s largest expense is prizes paid to players. In FY23, New Jersey players won $2.23 billion. 221 players won more than $100,000, including 58 players who received prizes at or above $1 million. This category includes a $17.3 million Pick-6 winner, a $7.3 million Pick-6 winner, a $7.1 million Pick-6 winner, and a $4 million Mega Millions winner.

Nearly 7,000 Lottery retailers earned $220 million in commissions.

The Lottery’s sales and marketing vendor, Northstar NJ Lottery, met its contractual performance targets used to calculate incentive compensation and received an incentive payment of $28.3 million.

The New Jersey Lottery is a self-supporting state division funded by revenue generated from the responsible sales of games. Lottery is the State’s fifth largest individual revenue producer benefiting the residents of New Jersey. Since its inception in 1970, the Lottery has contributed over $32.5 billion to the State, helping to support many worthwhile programs and services. Under a 30-year agreement signed into law in 2017, the Lottery helps bolster the public employee pension system for teachers, police, fire personnel and other public employees.

NJ Lottery Annual Reports and Fiscal Statements 

SOURCE: New Jersey Lottery.