Slot Machines Not Competing with Lottery

Many thought that with the legalization of slot machines in New York that lottery sales would start to suffer. Not so, says Lottery Director Nancy Palumbo – as a matter of fact sales were up 7% to make a record year of $6.8 billion.

The casinos in the state don’t see themselves as competition either – they say that they are more “destination resorts” than about just their slot machines. They say that they don’t target the same clientele. They say that while they target specific groups for their slot machines, the lottery targets a different group – there are very few crossovers.

The casinos are more of the type of gambling where someone will plan a trip to go play the slot machines, stay at a hotel, eat at their restaurants, etc. Lottery gamblers are more likely to be at the store getting gas and impulsively decide to purchase a lotto ticket.

Lottery officials have branched out some recently into a kind of slot machine type system at the racetracks with their video gaming centers. However, the casinos still don’t see this as competition. They say that people who stay at their slot machine casinos are usually from out of state, and the people who play lottery and the lottery terminals are usually in-state residents.

Back to Monthly Archive // Main Slot Machine News Index