By SCOTT KARA
Lotto sales during the first half of the current financial year were $10 million down on the same period in 1998 - and the Lotteries Commission blames public outrage over the salary of former boss David Hale.
Despite Lotto's high profile as a major sponsor of the America's Cup,
its sales of $326.5 million for the six months to December 31 were 2.3 per cent below budget.
The first reason given for the downturn was public controversy over Mr Bale's pay packet of more than $400,000. Mr Bale resigned in September after former Prime Minister Jenny Shipley criticised how much he was paid.
Added to this was criticism of commission members taking their partners on a $95,000 taxpayer-paid trip to a lottery conference in Norway.
The acting chief executive of the commission, Warren Salisbury, said the downturn was disappointing and the "revelations" of overseas trips and pay correlated with a fall in sales.
"[Lotto] is a people's game and people are entitled to vote with their feet ... [now] it's about winning back their support."
Mr Salisbury said the other reason for a drop in sales was Telebingo's shift in August from its 8 pm slot on TV to 9.30 pm. Telebingo sales were 16.2 per cent below budget at $18.2 million.
He said the commission would be meeting TVNZ soon and aimed to restore Telebingo to an earlier time slot.
The commission did not expect profits for the second half of the year to meet budget, so the full year's profit was also likely to be less than the forecast $135.4 million.
Mr Salisbury dismissed claims that a depressed economy, rather than the present buoyant one, inspired Lotto sales.
"I've been around Lotto for four years and if we got a choice of working within a buoyant economy as opposed to one that was recessive, we'd certainly choose a buoyant one," he said.
In contrast to Lotto, Instant Kiwi sales continued to rise, ending nearly 10 per cent above budget at $59.1 million.
