During Soft Launch, Michigan Online Lottery Quietly Racks Up Nearly $1mm In Win A Month

Michigan is quickly becoming a model for other states that are thinking about online lottery systems, nearing 100,000 users and $4 million in revenue in just a few months — despite an absence of promotion and marketing.

Early returns

Michigan’s iLottery just went live in August, and there are already some impressive numbers, according to a story at mlive.com:

• More than 87,000 players have made online gaming accounts in Michigan.
• The new online lottery system has already generated $3.7 million in revenue for Michigan, taking into account payouts that have been made to winning players.

The twist: the Michigan Lottery didn’t really do much in the way of marketing its iLottery system.

More from mlive.com:

“We’re in the early stages of this, and it’s less than one percent of our business right now,” said Michigan Lottery spokesperson Jeff Holyfield. “But we expect that for a certain group of people, it’s going to be an option they like.”

Holyfield said the under-the-radar rollout of online lotto games was designed to ensure the system was functioning properly before wider exposure. Michigan Lottery is planning radio promotions next month and is working to eventually make draw games, such as Mega Millions or Powerball, available for play online.

More growth coming?

Michigan, Illinois and Georgia are the only states with online lottery games so far, with Illinois’ iLottery doing very well in its early stages, as well. Michigan, before the numbers above were even released, was bullish on the future of its iLottery, expecting almost half a billion dollars in revenue over the next eight years. According to a Michigan Lottery press release:

The Lottery expects that offering its existing games through digital channels will result in incremental sales growth. 

That anticipated growth is projected to increase the Lottery’s contributions to the state School Aid Fund by nearly $120 million over the next four years and another $360 million over the four years after that.

The success has come even as some politicians and brick-and-mortar lottery sales locations are still opposed to the Michigan iLottery, according to the mlive.com story. But with revenues coming into the state treasury at a fast clip — even with little to no marketing push — it’s fair to guess that the state’s iLottery is here to stay.

Radio promotions are in the works, and more lottery games will be added online soon, as well.