By Todd Hatton/AP
Nashville, TN – Even in these tough economic times, many people are feeling lucky.
More than half of all states with lotteries have reported rising sales over the past six months, and some researchers say financial insecurity might be driving people to risk more of their money than usual on $1 and $5 instant scratch-offs and other daily games in hopes of a big payoff.
According to Scientific Games, a maker of scratch-offs, 25 of 42 states with lotteries have experienced higher sales of scratch-off and daily lottery games since July.
In Tennessee, sales of instant lottery games were up $8 million during the fiscal first quarter ending in October.
States' revenues from multistate lotteries, such as MegaMillions and Powerball, have dropped. But industry officials say sales of those tickets tend to fluctuate as the value of their jackpots rise and fall. If there is no winner one week, the size of these jackpots increases the following week.