Texas Lottery ticket sales here are down amid the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Gary Grief, the Executive Director of the state's Lottery Commission, says Texans will start to buy tickets once the stay at home orders are lifted.
In the weeks leading up the health emergency, the Texas Lottery was on pace for a record year: up 6 percent from 2019. Grief says all that quickly changed.
"Once the pandemic really came on full force, and you started seeing more and more stay-at-home orders be issued, then we saw a rapid decline [in ticket sales],” Grief said.
Scratch ticket sales have been down 7 to 8 percent. Draw games, like Mega Millions and Powerball, down about 30 percent. Grief thinks sales will rebound once state and local stay-at-home restrictions are lifted. Every year the state lottery generates millions of dollars for education and veteran services. Most stores selling Texas Lottery tickets are considered essential.