OHIO LOTTERY Instant games bring in profits

The lottery earned $10 million more than projected this year.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Crystal Knox is partial to Fast Cash Bingo and Nifty Fifty, but she also likes Doubling Dollars and Wheel of Fortune. The certified nurse assistant estimates she spends up to $20 a day on scratch-off lottery tickets, usually breaking even or better.
"To me it's easier," Knox, 37, a certified nurse's assistant, said of her preference for instant tickets over games like Super Lotto. "The odds are better."
Citing high growth in sales of instant games, the Ohio Lottery said Wednesday it earned $10 million more than projected this fiscal year, a slight bonus for schools down the road.
The lottery says it will transfer about $648 million to the Department of Education, up from an estimated $638 million for the fiscal year ending Wednesday.
The added money for schools followed six-month figures in January that showed profits were slightly behind budget projections.
By law, the surplus goes into a fund the Education Department can tap in years when lottery profits fall below estimates, said department spokesman J.C. Benton.
Sales of scratch-off tickets were about $1.17 billion, an increase of $77 million or 7.1 percent, the lottery said. Lottery spokeswoman Mardele Cohen attributed the rise to extra work developing and marketing the games.
Ohio winners
The lottery sold about $191.7 million in Mega Millions tickets, an increase over last year of about $16 million, or 9 percent. Cohen cited higher jackpots and two winners from Ohio, which improved sales.
In March, Eric Maxwell of Dayton claimed a $21 million Mega Millions jackpot. In January, Rebecca Jemison of South Euclid claimed a $162 million jackpot after a Cleveland woman claimed she lost the winning ticket and sued to block the payment to Jemison.
The woman was later convicted of filing a false police report over her claim.
The lottery has had success with tickets marketed to specific groups, such as the $2 game aimed at fans of TV's "Wheel of Fortune" show, Cohen said. The lottery also is selling less of each kind of ticket.
"Instead of doing 12 million or 15 million tickets of one game, we're keeping the products fresh out on the street, and that's a very important thing," Cohen said. "It's the same when you go into the store and keep seeing the same old, same old. It doesn't hold any interest for you."
The $648 million is the highest the lottery has earned for education since 2000, when $686 million went to schools.
The $10 million increase is a fraction of the state's overall education budget. By law, lottery profits go to schools and are expected to make up about 9 percent of the $7.1 billion the Education Department is receiving in state funds this year.
John Akrobettoe, whose favorite scratch-offs include the $5 Lucky Times Ten, won $20 Wednesday in instant games at a downtown Columbus convenience store.
"I take a chance; I believe there's always hope that one day you win," said Akrobettoe, 54, a business analyst at the state human services department.