Boston sports teams are doing big business in scratch-ticketsales.
Instant lottery games featuring the Red Sox, Celtics, Bruins, andPatriots account for more than half the amount spent on all licensedteam lottery games now in stores nationwide, according to researchcompiled by the trade publication SportsBusiness Journal.
The seven local sports teams' lottery games now on sale havegenerated more than $409 million in sales; overall, the 51 currentteam-based games in the country have brought in more than $763million.
It's not surprising that local sports teams are faring so well inlottery sales. The Massachusetts State Lottery Commission not onlyhas the highest sales per capita in the nation, it was the firststate lottery to sell a professional sports-themed game and has morecurrent team-based lottery games than any other state in thecountry.
'The sports team tickets leverage the success and thechampionship history of our local sports teams, and we have foundthat the sports fans are also wonderful lottery customers,' said DanRosenfeld, spokesman for the state lottery. 'The sportsorganizations and the lottery both have traditions of winning.'
The Red Sox were the first professional sports team in the nationto license a lottery game, in 2006. Since then, the MassachusettsState Lottery has put out 10 additional games featuring the fourmajor professional Massachusetts sports teams, generating more than$1.1 billion in sales and raising more than $157 million for thestate's cities and towns.
The National Football League started licensing lottery games in2009, and since then the New England Patriots game has brought inmore than $102 million in sales in Massachusetts - one of the mostsuccessful instant-ticket launches in the lottery's history,Rosenfeld said. The $5 Patriots ticket, which has a 1 in 4.49 chanceof winning, was the first NFL game to top $100 million, according toSportsBusiness Journal.
There's no doubt that Massachusetts residents are wild about thelottery. Residents spent an average $671 per person on lotterytickets in 2009, higher than any other state, according to LaFleur's 2010 World Lottery Almanac.
'It was not surprising that given the fan fervor and the lotteryexcitement there that [the Massachusetts teams] were number one, butthe fact that they were that dominant is definitely an eye-opener,'said David Broughton, research director at SportsBusiness Journal.
The teams themselves are thrilled by the popularity of theirscratch tickets. The first Bruins game alone sold 25 million $2tickets, and both Bruins games, which are still on sale, havebrought in $900,000 in revenue for the team, said Amy Latimer,senior vice president of sales and marketing for the Bruins.
'This is great for our fans, this is great for our product,' shesaid, 'but then when you realize the money is going to buy afiretruck or to support programs in schools, there's no betterrelationship you can have with a partner.'
Katie Johnston Chase can be reached at johnstonchase@globe.com.
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