Hartford Business Journal

16 Hartford Business Journal • February 10, 2020 • www.HartfordBusiness.com By Matt Pilon mpilon@hartfordbusiness.com B ridgeport's Daybreak Doughnuts is known to customers for its sweet breakfast treats. It's also known to the Connecti- cut Lottery Corp. (CLC) as a top-tier revenue producer. The 27-year-old Madison Av- enue business, which opens early and closes late, posted just shy of $973,000 in Keno sales last year, making it the second-largest Keno retailer in Connecticut. With 5% commission plus bonuses, Daybreak Doughnuts' take is nothing to scoff at, especially for a small business. Restaurant owner Tommy DeLau- rentis said Keno has become a big seller at his shop, along with ever-pop- ular scratch tickets, providing extra revenues as well as new customers. "Of course it's good for us," DeLau- rentis said. "Guys want to play it all day and drink their coffees in the corner." Daybreak Doughnuts' Keno suc- cess mirrors the cash windfall the game has also provided the Con- necticut Lottery Corp. Since becoming legalized in 2016, the bingo-like game has recorded annual double-digit percentage rev- enue growth, and recently became the lottery's second-highest-gross- ing individual game, surpassing Powerball last year, officials said. That's also good news for the state budget, which gets roughly 28% of the Lottery's annual revenues. In fiscal year 2019, Keno generated $102.9 million in sales, account- ing for nearly 8% of the Lottery's record-breaking $1.33 billion in overall revenue. Keno's success has also pro- vided a confi- dence boost as lottery officials seek out new games, including online lottery sales, which they will be pursuing again this legis- lative session. Lottery CEO Gregory Smith said he's been pleased with Keno's perfor- mance so far, but also sees room for more growth. "Keno's growth has been a positive outcome for us, but we've had great expectations for the game," said Smith, who was hired for the job in mid-2018. "And its continued double-digit growth tells us we don't quite see the peak yet." Smith sees more runway for Keno because the lottery is steadily imple- menting new ways to sell it. That includes modernizing its long-standing scratch-ticket vending machines. The lottery replaced 200 machines last year with new models that can sell draw games and Keno. Smith's team is also recruiting more businesses to become lottery retail- ers, specifically targeting social clubs, restaurants and bars because patrons generally spend more time at those lo- cations. Overall, the Connecticut Lot- tery counts 221 such establishments on its roster of 2,900 lottery retailers. The lottery is also steadily adding dedicated Keno TV monitors, which are bigger sales-growth catalysts than vending machines, to locations with promising revenue numbers, Smith said. An explainer To play Keno, bettors fill out a slip, indicating the number of games they want to play and the amount to be wa- gered per game (between $1 and $20). They also choose how many numbers or "spots" (between one and 10) they want to try to hit out of a possible 80. Every four minutes, the lottery's system randomly selects 20 numbers, which are displayed on Keno monitors and the lottery website. Bettors can Top CT Keno sellers Retailer Town Keno sales Loyal Order of Moose #289 Stratford $1,060,418 Daybreak Doughnuts Bridgeport $972,706 Minute Mart Hamden $857,971 West Main Convenience Stamford $767,550 Glenbrook News & Variety Stamford $744,496 Crossroads Cards and Gift Norwalk $744,011 Shippan Candies Stamford $698,434 The Cork Fine Wine & Spirits Torrington $691,397 News Express Fairfield $679,410 Monroe Food Mart Inc. Monroe $668,667 Source: Connecticut Lottery Corp. Dollars To Donuts Keno is becoming CT Lotto's ace in the hole Gregory Smith, CEO of the Connecticut Lottery Corp., perceives more growth potential for Keno, which has seen sharp revenue increases since its 2016 launch. The game could grow its lifetime sales to around $400 million by the end of this fiscal year. HBJ PHOTOS | MATT PILON

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