(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa Lottery’s Chief Revenue Officer says the organization’s drop in sales in the first two months of the fiscal year is a trend the lottery industry is facing nationwide. Jon Roth says scratch ticket sales nationwide are down three-point-two percent so far this year. “Scratch tickets are the mainstay of lottery industry. They represent anywhere from 60 to 67 percent of sales for the lottery industry. So it’s important. So when those numbers are down, that’s an indicator overall the industry is still facing challenges,” Roth says. Roth says sales of lotto games nationwide in the past 52 weeks are down more than 17 percent.

“And in particular, if you look at the last 12 weeks, so year-over-year comparison for those last 12 weeks, sales are down 23-three point two percent,” he says. Roth says instaplay games are also down. “Although better than the lotto performance, it’s actually tracking lower than where scratch ticket sales are. And if you look through early August, we’re showing a decrease of five-point-five percent over the last 52 weeks,” Roth says. “And over the shorter time periods we’re actually seeing higher levels, closer to double digits.” Roth says the Iowa Lottery is trying to counter some of the trends, including a revamp of its instaplay games. He says they are also sending out more self-service machines to retailers.

“We have 150 that will be launching shortly into the marketplace. These are new machines for us. They’ll provide a great opportunity for retailers that continue to face staffing challenges,” he says. “It’s always hard for retailers to service all of their customers in the multiple ways that the customers want, and having these self serve machines provides an opportunity for individuals who don’t have the time, or don’t want to face those lines.” Roth says the new machines will handle more tickets so they don’t have to be refilled as often. He says retailers will still keep their counter sales along with the self-service machines, as they’ve found sales drop significantly if they get rid of counter sales.

Roth made his comments during the Iowa Lottery Commission Meeting Tuesday.