In many ways, retailers are the face of the Lottery. “Our retail partners provide exceptional customer service to Lottery players throughout the state,” said Michigan Lottery Commissioner Jessica Karbowski Weare, who was appointed Acting Commissioner of the Michigan Lottery on July 31, 2023. “The hard work of retailers has led to commission payments nearly doubling over the last 10 years from $178.4 million in 2012 to $356.6 million in 2022.”
Weare is focused on a continued productive relationship with MIRA and its membership. “The Lottery’s long relationship with MIRA and its members in Michigan, Ohio, and the surrounding states, is incredibly important,” said Weare. “Lottery retailers, many of whom are members of MIRA, are on the front lines when it comes to interacting with Lottery players. We value all the hard work retailers do to help make Lottery a success and to provide excellent point-of-sale service to our shared customers.”
In 2023, Weare noted that the Michigan Lottery had a very successful year, “which would not have been possible without the hard work of retailers,” she said. “While numbers for FY2023 are not final, it appears that Lottery will be able to contribute more than $1 billion to the state’s School Aid Fund for the fifth consecutive year. We look forward to continuing a strong relationship with our retailers and continuing to support Michigan’s schoolchildren in FY2024.”
Over the same period, the Lottery’s contribution to the School Aid Fund has increased by about 70%. “We are grateful to our retail partners, and organizations like MIRA for their role in this growth,” she said.
“MIRA continues to familiarize itself with the Lottery’s many new products and works to gain a better understanding of the organization’s growth strategies, so that we can better educate our members on ways this important relationship can help to improve their individual bottom lines,” remarked MIRA’s President & CEO Bill Wild.
“Retailer’s demand for the Lottery’s popular new vending machines for instant win games exceeds supply, and there is currently a waiting list. Our retailers love them for many reasons, including reducing the lack of fraud and theft. Many of our members are interested in these but there is a supply and demand issue,” stated Wild.
“Vending machines are intended to add a secondary selling option for customers to purchase lottery tickets. In addition to driving increases in sales and retailer commissions, vending machines also have other benefits, such as player convenience,” noted Wear. “Because demand greatly outweighs the supply of vending machines, Lottery has set requirements retailers must meet to be considered for a vending machine to be placed at their location. Lottery considers several factors in deciding where to place such machines, including current sales volume, optimal visibility, and potential sales increase.”
One of MIRA’s legislative priorities heading in 2024 is to work with the state to increase commissions received by independent retailers. “It takes an increasing amount of counter space, as well as higher utility and employee costs to deliver the entire Lottery experience for customers which now includes the exciting Power Ball and Mega Millions games,” added Wild.
Commissioner Weare made note that the Michigan Lottery has one of the highest paying commission structures in the nation, and the Lottery’s current base sales commission of 6% is tied with Indiana, as the highest among neighboring states. The current structure increases revenue to schools by incentivizing higher sales, and total commission and incentive payments to retailers have increased by 75% since Fiscal Year 2015, which was the first year retailers collected more than $200 million in commissions.
“While the numbers aren’t yet final, it appears that for the third straight year, Michigan Lottery retailers will have earned more than $350 million in commissions in FY2023,” said Weare. “The main benefit of being a Lottery Retailer has always been increased traffic/spending, not payouts from commissions. A recent Scientific Games study found 95% of lottery players purchase at least one other item while in-store and that lottery players on average spend 65% more in-store than non-players.”
“Michigan Lottery continues to be focused on offering players fun and entertaining games of chance that provide the opportunity to win life-changing prizes,” said Weare. “We are also committed to operating all our games with 100% integrity. As we continue to add new and exciting games to our portfolio, we expect sales to continue to be strong for our retailer partners.”
The Michigan Lottery is facing more competition than ever before, most notably from online gambling, and is looking to increase its footprint throughout the state, including bars and other venues.
“While we recognize that this is a challenge, our team is taking this opportunity to work hard and deliver innovative games for players to enjoy,” said Weare. “Lottery is unique amongst competitors, in that all of the Lottery’s profits go to the School Aid Fund. This mission appeals to players and helps set our games apart from those offered on other platforms. It’s also noteworthy that only Lottery offers games like Mega Millions and Powerball that give players a chance to win jackpots that reach hundreds of millions or billions of dollars.”
What MIRA members may not know is that there are nearly 10,500 Lottery retailer locations throughout the state, and many of them are small, family-owned businesses. From 1986 (the first-year retailer commission data is available) to 2022, Lottery retailers have collected more than $5.8 billion in commissions. In FY2022, retailer commissions totaled more than $356 million, with 842 retailers selling more than $1 million in Lottery products.
When she is not at work Weare remains busy. “Free time can be hard to come by in a household with two young children and an energetic rescue pup,” she said. “Our family enjoys spending as much time as we can outdoors by hiking, camping, playing at the beach or in the snow, and taking every opportunity to explore the great state of Michigan. I also enjoy cooking, eating, reading, watching sports, chasing my children around while pretending to be a hungry monster, and texting friends my best Wordle results.”
