Lottery Corp Profit Drops 22% as Australia’s Big Jackpots Fail to Materialize — BigGo Finance

The Lottery Corporation, Australia’s biggest lottery operator, posted a 22% drop in annual profit after a rare dearth of blockbuster jackpots kept casual punters away from its Powerball and Oz Lotto games.

Net profit fell to A$284.6 million for the 2025/26 financial year, down from the prior year, while underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization came in at A$736 million — slightly below market consensus. Revenue declined 2.7% to A$3.6 billion.

Chief executive Wayne Pickup, who has been in the role for nine months, described the period as a “rarely soft year for big jackpots — a one-in-45-year outcome.”

It was the first time in five years that the Powerball jackpot failed to reach A$100 million, and the first time in nine years that no Oz Lotto draw hit A$50 million or more. The absence of those headline-grabbing prizes stripped roughly A$350 million from revenue.

“As you know, the math tells you jackpot runs even out over time,” Pickup said. “The momentum in pricing, base game participation and digital share matters more to the long-term trajectory than what happens in any single period.”

Where the damage was done

Fewer large jackpots translated directly into lower turnover across both retail and digital lottery platforms, which fell 3% to A$6.5 billion. The lotteries business contributed A$627 million of underlying earnings, with Keno making up much of the remainder.

Note: Prior-year figures derived from percentage changes disclosed by the company.

Some of the revenue hit was offset by a price increase in November, when the cost of a Powerball game rose to A$1.40 from A$1.20 — the second increase in three years.

“Where we control the levers, we performed well, with healthy retention of price increases in our two largest games — Powerball and Saturday Lotto — and continued growth in base games and Keno,” Pickup said.

He added that expense discipline was “structural, not a one-off,” giving the company room to reinvest in digital capabilities, artificial intelligence, product development and customer capability.

Converting casual players

The Lottery Corporation reported 8.3 million active lottery customers during the year, but believes there are more than four million unregistered players across Australia it can convert to registered accounts.

“We want people to come back more often, and not just to participate when there are large jackpots,” Pickup told an earnings briefing on Wednesday.

The company is positioning itself to evolve from a traditional lottery operator into a digitally led entertainment platform as more customers shift online.

“We need to fill the entertainment portfolio with more reasons to engage and really build on these winning moments,” Pickup said.

Scratchie games and Keno operations continued to perform well, he noted.

Economic resilience and outlook

Asked about the consumer environment amid rising living costs and interest rates, Pickup said the company’s gaming data was not giving it cause for concern.

“Lotteries are traditionally resilient through economic downturns,” he said. “We haven’t seen anything in our data, but we’re obviously cognisant of it. When I’m visiting retailers, it’s tough out there in general.”

He added: “We’d just like a few more big jackpots.”

The company’s outlook was bolstered by a 40-year extension of its lottery licence with Victoria, which accounts for 30% of its lottery turnover. The next major licence renewal is for New South Wales in 2050.

The board declared a final dividend of 8.5 cents per share, bringing the total for the year to 16.5 cents, fully franked — in line with the previous year.

Shares in The Lottery Corporation rose almost 2% ahead of midday trading to A$5.41.