West Virginia Lottery reports stable revenue, expands iPlay and iGaming; casino and racing questions raised

John Myers, director of the West Virginia Lottery, briefed the Senate Finance Committee on lottery revenues, product trends and statutory distributions to state programs.

Myers said the lottery is a non‑appropriated agency and that gross annual sales are about $1.16 billion in the period he referenced. He said the lottery has netted more than $5.1 billion for state programs in the last 10 years and that cumulative sales since inception total about $32.25 billion with net revenue to state programs of over $12.5 billion. He told senators the lottery was “a little over 1.16 billion annually” in gross sales for the recent period he cited.

Myers described the lottery’s cash position: at the start of the fiscal year the State Lottery Fund was $90,550,000 and the Excess Lottery Fund $99,420,000 for a combined balance of $189,970,000. For fiscal 2025 he reported revenues of $486,940,000 and total funds available of $599,910,000; last year’s budgeted appropriation was $475,640,000. He projected fiscal 2026 revenues at about $496,340,000 and after the recommended surplus appropriation projected a zero balance on June 30, 2026 (he said projections reduce $400,000 for a Veterans Fund allocation).

Myers discussed product performance and new offerings. He said traditional draw games such as Powerball and Mega Millions are down and that the lottery launched two digital initiatives on Oct. 31 last year: iPlay (mobile purchase of draw games and e‑scratch tickets) and a loyalty program called Play On. He told the committee iGaming has grown and he expected it to reach about $30,000,000 this year.

The director addressed limited video lottery (LVL) and casino economics. He told senators there are about 1,200 LVL locations statewide and estimated roughly 8,700 active machines when counting those on the floor and in warehouses. Myers said some casinos draw large shares of customers from out of state (he cited Mountaineer Casino as having only about 5% of customers from West Virginia and higher percentages of out‑of‑state players at other border casinos), noting out‑of‑state visitation affects how revenues flow to state coffers.

Senators asked about dog racing and the prospect of decoupling live racing from casino operations; Myers said removing racing would require statutory changes and could free monies currently routed to race purses and related funds, and he observed national sentiment against greyhound racing has reduced its profile. Senators asked for a stand‑alone accounting of revenues and expenses for the two dog tracks; Myers suggested the Racing Commission could provide more detailed stand‑alone accounting and recommended contacting the racing director for operational detail.

Myers walked senators through the “bucket list” statutory distributions: the Bureau of Senior Services, education, higher education improvements, school building authority and other recipients. He noted race track modernization funds and showed how some tracks have unspent balances. He closed with staffing and operational details including overtime and FTE counts and invited committee questions.

Committee members raised questions about retailer commissions, county sales patterns and whether lottery proceeds concentrate in lower‑income counties; Myers said retail commissions are primarily the 7% sales commission and a 1% cashing bonus and described variation in retailer activity as a driver of county differences.

No committee vote on the lottery’s internal operating plan was recorded in the transcript.