Kansas Lottery reports strong FY24 sales, outlines sports-wagering returns and iLottery plans to committee

Steve, executive director of the Kansas Lottery, told members of the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee that fiscal year 2024 produced robust lottery activity and continued transfers to state funds, while new gaming lines and operational changes were starting to show returns.

The report to the committee said traditional lottery sales were about $337.8 million in fiscal 2024, with instant (scratch) ticket sales reported at $202 million versus $203 million in 2023 and combined draw-game sales of about $135.7 million. The lottery also reported roughly $47 million in vending-machine sales in fiscal 2024 and said transfers to state gaming- and mental-health-related funds exceeded $88 million for the year, with the Economic Development Initiatives Fund (EDIF), juvenile detention and correctional building funds and veterans programs among recipients.

Why it matters: the lottery’s collections and how they are distributed fund EDIF projects, county and city casino-zone shares, mental-health programs, veteran services and other statutory line items. Lawmakers pressed the director on the size and recipients of those transfers, the state’s share from the new sports-wagering market and the lottery’s plans for launching online ticket sales.

Steve said the lottery has placed about 370 self-service vending machines around the state and that statutory language requires a portion of vending-machine proceeds to support mental-health programs; the testimony said roughly $9 million from those machines went to mental-health programs in the most recent year. He described a new “Fast Play” product introduced in May and reported it had generated about $2.6 million in revenue through December. He also said the lottery is using a ticket-tracking and management system from a vendor (referred to in testimony as "SciQ") and that Scientific Games took over the lottery’s warehousing and shipping in 2024 to reduce retailer returns and logistical costs.

On gaming facility revenues, the lottery reported casino receipts rose about 3.5% year over year and that the state received about $89.7 million from casinos in fiscal 2024; cumulative casino transfers since the expanded-lottery law began exceed $1 billion, the testimony said. The director also told the committee that Hollywood Casino in the Kansas City (Northeast) gaming zone is contractually obligated to build a hotel and that construction is expected between now and late 2026 or early 2027, weather permitting.

Sports wagering, authorized by the legislature in 2022, returned a smaller state share than some lawmakers expected. "Ninety percent of sports wagering revenues are paid to facility managers and 10% is retained by the state. That is statutory," Steve said. He told the committee the state’s share for fiscal 2024 was about $11.7 million, including a $750,000 allocation to a white-collar crime fund, roughly $219,000 to the Problem Gaming and Addictions Fund, about $8.7 million to the newly created fund to help attract a professional sports team to Kansas and roughly $1.97 million to state gaming revenues or the general fund, as described in the testimony.

The lottery said it has begun preparations for iLottery (online ticket sales) but that the platform was not yet operational; the director estimated first-year iLottery revenue in the mid-teens of millions of dollars. "We will not offer any sort of casino-style games," Steve said, adding the online offering will mirror draw games and instant games already available in retail and will avoid slot-style or casino-like interfaces.

Lawmakers asked about contract and platform arrangements. The director said the lottery’s agreement with its sports-wagering and platform partners is roughly halfway through a five-year term and that no extension has been agreed; he said the lottery has told platforms they must be operating profitably before the agency will consider long-term extensions.

Committee members raised enforcement and consumer-protection questions about so-called "gray machines"—commercial devices that some operators say are skill games while others call them illegal games of chance. Steve said the lottery is not an enforcement agency and that authority to investigate or seize suspect machines rests with local law enforcement and other state agencies, including the attorney general’s office and the Racing and Gaming Commission in some cases. "We are not an enforcement agency. We are not a law enforcement agency," he said, and added the lottery warns retailers that selling lottery products alongside illegal machines could jeopardize their ability to sell lottery tickets.

Drew Adkins, appearing online for the state problem-gambling program, told the committee the helpline and treatment resources are being used more frequently. "We do monitor that and we try to beef up resources, whether that be resources for treatment, more marketing in those areas," Adkins said. He provided helpline-call counts included in the lottery’s testimony: 107 calls (25 sports-betting specific) from September–December 2022 and 377 calls (66 sports-betting specific) from January–December 2023, numbers he said show increased utilization.

No formal actions or votes were taken during the presentation. The committee chair closed the hearing after members asked follow-up questions about transfers, enforcement of gray machines and problem-gambling outreach. The committee announced its next meeting would take up Senate Bill 105, concerning legislative vacancies.

Ending: The lottery’s written testimony and the helpline figures are part of the public record from the committee hearing; the agency said it will continue to provide updates as iLottery deployment and vendor negotiations proceed.