Lottery officials say Club Keno off to strong start

$1.25 MILLION IN SALES

From staff and wire reports

The numbers are looking good for Missouri's new Club Keno lottery game.

Lottery officials said Wednesday that the keno game is off to a strong start, generating $1.25 million in sales during its first two weeks.

"I think we're all delighted with the launch on keno," said state Lottery Commission chairman Bill James of Harrisonville.

Club Keno began May 28 at about 320 bars, restaurants and other sites licensed to sell alcohol. Since then, the number of locations offering the game has grown to 420, with about 80 more locations awaiting license clearances or the installation of equipment.

There are six keno locations in Cape Girardeau County. Port Cape Girardeau, Show Me's and Pagoda Gardens carry it in Cape Girardeau, while Delmonico's, Sidetracks and Elks Lodge No. 2652 offer it in Jackson.

Some of these businesses are reporting excellent sales through the game's first few weeks.

"It's going really well," said Dale Pruett, bar manager at Port Cape. "Everyone seems to be having a blast with it."

The keno game features computer-generated drawings every five minutes, 20 hours a day. Players can select up to 10 numbers from a field of 80. A computer then selects 20 winning numbers for display on special video monitors.

Wagers from $1 to $20 are accepted, with jackpots ranging from $1 to $100,000. Players are paid based on the number of correct guesses.

Customers keep playing

It seems to pay back fairly consistently, which keeps the customers playing, said David Ackman, owner of Delmonico's in Jackson.

Figures released Wednesday showed retailers averaged $1,097 in sales during the game's first five days. During the next full week, average sales per retailer rose to $1,539.

"As of right now we're doing really great with it," said Justin Barnes, general manager of Show Me's restaurant in Cape Girardeau. "It's a lot higher than my expectations."

Lottery staff said they had hoped retailers would average $1,400 in sales weekly once the game was well established.

"It really has come out of the gate very well -- it has been a terrific start," said Adam Hall, the lottery's marketing director.

The keno game was started to generate new money for the state's tight budget.

The game was expected to generate $79 million in sales annually, of which nearly $21 million would go to public schools under the budget for the state fiscal year starting July 1.

Based on its current sales, Club Keno now is projected to have $3.2 million in sales before the July 1 fiscal year even begins.

Hall said the game may also be bringing in more money for businesses. Some restaurants and bars have reported increased food and drink sales as customers stay longer to play the game, he said.

For the 2002 fiscal ending June 30, the lottery's various games are projected to generate $580 million in sales and $160 million in profits for the state after prizes and administrative costs are paid.

That's greater than the $515 million in sales and $156 million in profits originally included in the budget.

The biggest money makers are the lottery's instant scratch-off games, which are expected to have $317 million in sales this fiscal year, a 16 percent increase over the previous year.

The nationwide Powerball lotto game is expected to produce $123.5 million for Missouri, up 26 percent over the previous year partly because of a large jackpot that spurred sales, Hall said.

Jeremy Joffray of the Southeast Missourian contributed to this report.