Lottery Ticket Sales Down in NM

The following is a letter sent to state legislators FROM NEW MEXICO LOTTERY CEO TOM ROMERO: Dear Legislators, In our ongoing commitment to keep you well informed of lottery matters, I wanted you to know that the lottery’s gross revenues for FY 2011 are down $4.3 million (-5%) from this time last year. As always, strict fiscal discipline is the order of the day. Among many cost-savings measures:
· We hire only to fill openings in critical job positions.
· We just started the third year of a salary freeze.

· And for the fourth consecutive year, we are spending approximately $700,000 less in advertising, even though we joined a third multi-state drawing game in January 2010.
As we look across our expense budget, there is no one item or combination of items that could be cut to bridge the $4.3 million gap. The only path forward is to grow sales. And to do this responsibly, we must reach new players and build their loyalty to lottery games and the Legislative Lottery Scholarship program rather than ask existing players to increase their participation. To engage new players, we have developed an integrated marketing campaign that kicks off this week.

The campaign is titled “Whatchagonnado?” The phrase “Whatchagonnado?” is intended to arouse the curiosity most people have about how winners will use their prizes – whether it’s $200 or a multi-million-dollar jackpot – and to urge non-players to think about getting into the game. The “Whatchagonnado?” catchphrase will echo across all our marketing communications over the next several years. It will also appear in future ads to promote awareness of Legislative Lottery Scholarships from the context of asking students to think about their future as college graduates. We hope this information is helpful. If you have any questions about this matter, please call me at 505-342-7612.

Lottery Ticket Sales Down in NM