The Georgia Lottery Corporation extended its long-running partnership with Scientific Games, inking a seven-year deal to keep the Georgia-based company as the Georgia Lottery’s designer and producer of scratchers.
The Georgia Lottery is one of the largest in the country. Based on total per capita lottery ticket sales, the Peach State ranks fourth in the country behind Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island.
An enduring local partnership
Scientific Games, headquartered in Alpharetta, has been the Georgia Lottery’s partner since the lottery’s inception in 1993. The lottery will celebrate its 30th anniversary this year.
As Georgians know, Scientific Gaming’s scratchers are big business, and they’ve provided a big boost to the state’s educational fund. The popularity of scratchers has vaulted them to a more than $3.9 billion consumer product category, and a large reason why the Georgia Lottery is ranked as the No. 2 lottery in the world for per-capita sales on instant games.
In Georgia, the lottery is still the only game in town
With another legislative session ending without the passage of legal sports betting, the lottery maintains its status as the only legal gambling option in the state. The Georgia Lottery’s success has made it the go-to vehicle for the legal deployment of sports betting in proposed legislation. However, with multiple gambling bills failing to reach the finish line, business at the Georgia Lottery Corporation will move forward as normal.
The Georgia Lottery is also one of only nine states, along with the District of Columbia, that allows for online lottery purchases through its website.
It’s rare that the state of Georgia finds itself in limited company regarding gambling access and availability, but the Georgia Lottery has proven itself an able operator that’s earned the trust of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. In 2012, Georgia became just the second state to launch online lottery sales.
GLC and Scientific Games’ partnership brings big bucks to education
A big benefactor from the Georgia Lottery has been the state’s education system, which has seen over $26 billion in revenue since the lottery was established 30 years ago. The bulk of that windfall is earmarked for HOPE Scholarships and Pre-K funding.
The state was poised to add to that available revenue, but it again failed to enact legal sports betting legislation during the 2023 General Assembly.
The Georgia Lottery Corporation and Scientific Games have enjoyed a three-decade partnership, and the relationship will see at least another seven years with the latest contract signing. With legislative cooperation and a little luck, Georgia will have legal sports betting in the fold before that agreement expires.
