The South Carolina Education Lottery recently agreed to extend its contract with Scientific Games Corporation. The initial contract was signed in 2002 upon launch of the South Carolina Education Lottery, and the partnership has now been extended for another six years.
The partnership that was created was called the Scientific Games Enhanced Partnership, and the mission was to bring in maximum profits that would benefit education programs within the state. Both sides agreed to the contract extension that will also see a new mobile lottery app introduced in South Carolina.
Scientific Games has been responsible for the designing and manufacturing of every instant game sold in the state since opening up in 2002. The South Carolina Education Lottery and this partnership is now ranked as the third-highest instant game lottery in the entire world.
While the new contract extension will continue what has been a great partnership, both sides are set to benefit from some new details. As part of this new agreement, warehousing and a new state-of-the-art distribution facility will be built in the state. The lottery mobile app will be an interactive app that offers many different and unique services to the residents of South Carolina.
Not only does Scientific Games run the lottery in South Carolina, but they are one of the worldwide leaders in the lottery industry. All 10 of the top-performing lotteries in the world are operated by Scientific Games.
Successful Run
South Carolina saw nearly $2 billion in ticket sales in 2019, which was the best 12-month period that the state has ever seen. Over $1.3 billion in prizes were awarded, with another $140 million going to retailer commissions. That left a little more than $487 million to be given to the education fund, which develops several large programs and hands out thousands of scholarships each year.
Last March, South Carolina also set a United States record by handing out the largest prize ever awarded for the purchase of a single ticket. The Mega Millions jackpot totaled $1.537 billion, and the ticket was purchased at KC Mart in Simpsonville, SC.
The state was forced to pay the convenience store $50,000 for selling the winning ticket, but the state earned almost $60 million in taxes off of the winning ticket.
Even though a part of this new contract extension will allow for the creation of a new mobile app, that doesn’t mean that the South Carolina Education Lottery will be an online lottery. There are currently just eight states in the US that have legalized an online lottery, and South Carolina does not fall into that group.
The state already has a mobile app, called the South Carolina Lottery App. This mobile application is available for download on both Android and iOS devices. Players can view winning tickets numbers and enter into second-chance promotions from the app, but all lottery tickets must still be purchased from a licensed retailer.
South Carolina participates in the PowerBall and Mega Millions games as a part of the interstate lottery agreement. Pick 3, Pick 4, Palmetto Cash 5, and Lucky for Life are a few of the games that are a part of the terminal generated games authorized in the state.
South Carolina has no plans to offer lottery games through the internet even after the new and improved app is released. The state has strict online gambling laws, and a change in the state constitution would be needed for the lottery to be offered online. State lawmakers have failed to expand gambling laws in the past, and it is unlikely to happen now.
