While Minnesota adults participate in a number of different gambling
variants, three of these activities dominate the gambling scene
- pulltabs, Indian casinos and the Lottery. Three out of four adults
in the state report having wagered on one or more of these activities;
three out of five have made wagers on them in the past year. More
than 2 million adults have played the Minnesota State Lottery since
its inception in April, 1990, making it the most popular form of
gambling in the state. The 63 percent of Minnesotans who have played
the Lottery far outnumber the 52 percent who have played pulltabs
and the 47 percent who have placed wagers at an Indian casino. Interestingly,
participation seems to be inversely proportional to the amount wagered.
The Lottery recorded $369 million in sales during fiscal year 1997
while pulltabs totaled $1.3 billion. Wagering at Indian casinos
in Minnesota has been estimated at a minimum of $2 billion annually
[Chart 1].
As you might suspect, the number of people who have wagered on
all three of these activities is quite large - 932,000 (28 percent)
Minnesotans have tried all three [Chart
2]. Only 11 percent (353,000) have done so in the past year.
Also in the past year, an estimated 575,000 (17%) adults in the
state played Lottery games to the exclusion of the other two [Chart
3].
Casino attendance appears to be declining - the percent of Minnesotans
visiting an Indian casino in the past year has declined slightly
for the past two years (38 percent in 1995, 33 percent in 1996 and
29 percent in 1997) [Chart 4].
Pulltab participation in the state is stable to declining - the
percent of Minnesotans playing pulltabs during the prior year reached
a peak in 1995 at 34 percent of the population and was measured
at 31 percent in 1996 and 29 percent in 1997 [Chart
5]. Here we can also look at spending data as reported by Minnesota
Gambling Control Board. Gross expenditures for pulltabs is reported
as $1.162 billion in fiscal year 1994 (up .6 percent from the previous
year), $1.255 billion in fiscal year 1995 (up 8 percent), $1.265
billion in fiscal year 1996 (up .9 percent) and $1.252 billion in
fiscal year 1997 (down 1.1 percent).
Lottery participation looks to be stable - 58 percent of the populace
answered 'yes' to the question 'have you played the Minnesota State
Lottery in the past year' in June of 1995 when the Powerball jackpot
had rolled to a peak of $100 million in March and then again to
$87 million the first week of June. Fifty percent of adults said
they played in 1996, 48 percent in 1997 [Chart
6]. We can safely assume that about half of the adults in the
state are current Lottery players.
What does this group look like? It is 53 percent male, 47 percent
female. The average Lottery player has completed some post high
school education and has an annual household income of $30,000 -
$40,000. Thirty percent of the people in this group have a college
diploma and 32 percent have annual household incomes over $50,000.
Fifty-six percent of Generation X'ers (18 - 34 years old) and 52
percent of Baby Boomers (35-54 year olds) have played in the past
year while 41 percent of the Silent Generation (55-69 year olds)
and 28 percent of Seniors (70 and older) made purchases.
How many people play each Lottery game? Again the data is from
the SCSU survey. During June and July of 1997 we asked "when
was the last time, if any, you played each of the following games
- within the last two months, the last year, longer ago than that
or never?" Here's how the numbers stack up (reported in thousands
of Minnesota adults).
|
Past Two Months |
Past Year |
Longer Than That |
Never |
| Instant games |
912 |
460 |
272 |
1,684 |
| Powerball |
688 |
395 |
198 |
1,688 |
| Gopher 5 |
183 |
141 |
137 |
2,847 |
| Daily 3 |
45 |
121 |
244 |
2,911 |
Of course not all Lottery play comes from Minnesotans. An estimated
3.9 percent of sales come from people living outside Minnesota.
In terms of dollars, that's about $14 million during fiscal year
1997. North Dakota (the only bordering non-lottery state) leads
the way followed by Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota, Ontario and Manitoba.
Powerball is the largest draw with non-Minnesotans; about 6 percent
of Powerball sales come from outside the state.
