8 months have elapsed since Boledo kicked off again in December. At that time, sales were so robust and the system as yet untested that it caused their servers to crash.
Since then sales have been more than steady, and we got the figures from a the first 8 month window of what have to be called record sales:
Jules Vasquez
"What are the figures?"
Narda Garcia, Chair, Lotteries Commission
"Gross sales, $72 million. $72 million for the eight months, yes, yes. And we are reporting net profit of $13.5 more or less. Million."
Jules Vasquez
"OK, so how much paid out in winnings? How much administrative costs?"
Narda Garcia, Chair, Lotteries Commission
"OK, our administrative cost, I will tell you, is less than 1%. It's about $600,000. That's paying software, paying the cloud for the servers, et cetera. And we have six staff members. That's it. Winnings is 69, 70%. It fluctuates between 69, 70%. And then we have to pay the agents and the resellers. Or we pay the resellers who pay the agents."
Jules Vasquez
"How much of a percentage is that part?"
Narda Garcia, Chair, Lotteries Commission
"That's 15%. So that the agents have basically stay with 5%. And they pay the small agents, 10%."
"The way you look at lotteries from an economic standpoint, or gaming, really, is a reallocation of resources to a sector of the population, right? This is what happens. You will never be able to stop gambling or playing of lotteries. It will always be from all sectors of society. But basically, the low -income earners are the biggest players. And why? For all the social reasons, that's the situation."
"Projection-wise, we are looking, and very conservatively, that for the 12 -month period, we will sell around $108 to $110 million, gross, yes."
Jules Vasquez
"So then your profit, by that time, will be $20 million?"
Narda Garcia, Chair, Lotteries Commission
"More or less, more or less. Remember, it's a game of chance. So sometimes you win more, and sometimes you win less. So it's looking at, again, projections."
Profits from the Boledo will go to NHI, Sports and the Charities Fund. Garcia says her board will have oversight of that fund.
