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Coronavirus Begins to Hit The Lottery Industry!

Posted: Tuesday, Mar 31,2020 | Time: 04:12 pm | Edited by: The Lottery Lab Staff

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Life in America is being tremendously impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic and the economic impacts it is causing. All aspects of American life are coming to a halt including the Lottery Industry. All American gambling business are experiencing impacts due to the spread of COVID-19.

Although many lotteries continue to conduct their lottery drawings on a normal schedule, there are some aspects of lottery games that require people to gather. These operations have been shut down completely by some lottery commissions. Places such as lottery claim centers have been shuttered, especially in Illinois and South Carolina. These two state-lotteries are still allowing claims by mails on their listed official addresses.

Illinois Lottery officials have stated that their claim centers are completely closed until further notice, starting Tuesday. The Illinois Lottery Acting Director Harold Mays announced that continuous spread of Coronavirus made the officials take such an aggressive step to ensure the safety of their players and employees.

The South Carolina Lottery drawings continue to take place normally and claims for prizes over $500 and up to $100,000, can be mailed or given in person after claim centers re-open. The Lottery is urging people to make copies of their winning tickets and claiming forms before mailing them.

Some other state lotteries have altered their operations and claim policies as well.

●The Colorado State Lottery has kept its claim centers open but is highly encouraging people to send in their claims through the mail.

●The Maryland Lottery has altered their hours for claiming by shortening them.

●The Massachusetts Lottery has closed its claim centers from Tuesday.

●The South Dakota Lottery Offices were completely shut until March 21 but may extend if the situation continues to worsen.

●The lobby hours for the Vermont Lottery has been shortened to 10 am - 2 pm until further notice.

●Washington D.C.’s prize centers have shortened their hours of operation from Monday to Friday from 9 am to 3 pm.

●All promotional events of the West Virginia Lottery have been cancelled.

●The Wyoming Lottery is encouraging its players to mail their claim forms rather than going to the claim center in-person.

Due to the lockdown effecting many states, the ability to buy lottery tickets or even claiming a prize may remain impacted. Puerto Rico is the only lottery that has completely ceased its operations. This lottery was carrying on its operations without an official website ever since the island was wrecked by Hurricane Maria in 2017. They made a Facebook post on Monday announcing the suspension of lottery ticket sales and postponement of drawings.

Even the Jackpots of massive lotteries such as Powerball and Mega Millions are shrinking as the Pandemic lowers down the lottery sales. The next Powerball Jackpot will reset itself to $20 million with a minimum roll of $2 million between the drawings. The players in many jurisdictions have quarantined themselves on the recommendation of their respective governors or mayors which has impacted the normal consumer behavior in the world of lottery. The Chairman of the Powerball Lottery Group stated that they are making proactive changes to offer the world’s premium lottery. Mega Millions is also moving on this similar step and is having internal discussions about the potential changes to be made due to the current health crisis and simmering sales of lottery tickets.

There are some lotteries that are not doing enough to communicate with their players about this pandemic situation. Even some of the most hard hit states have not provided information to the public.

Some lottery websites have a complete absence of information about the spreading virus and its impact. This makes it difficult for players to seek information on the effect of the virus on their favorite lottery.

Nobody knows how well the preventive measures for the virus are working or for how long current measures will last, but it is important for state lotteries to remain transparent about the pandemic coronavirus, its impact and openly communicate with their players.

To check on important information about COVID-19, please visit,

●The official Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) page about COVID-19: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html

●The President's Coronavirus Guidelines for America — 15 Days to Slow the Spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) at https://www.whitehouse.gov/priorities/covid-19/

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