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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Hoosier Lottery is evaluating its next move on the Monopoly Millionaires' Club—a new, so-far money-losing game—in the wake of a decision by Texas to end its participation.
The Multistate Lottery Association, or MUSL, rolled out Monopoly Millionaires' Club, created by New York-based Scientific Games Corp., two months ago, but sales in the 23 participating jurisdictions haven't been strong enough to cover weekly jackpots.
Because of Texas' withdrawal, directors from the 22 remaining states will join a conference call to discuss their options this afternoon, Hoosier Lottery spokeswoman Courtney Arango said. Other published reports have said sales would be suspended after Dec. 26, but Arango said there's been no vote among MUSL participants yet.
States had high expectations for the game, which carries a top prize of $25 million and is supposed to offer "more $1 million prizes than any lottery game in U.S. history."
Arango acknowledged that sales nationwide are "running far below industry expectations" since the game's Oct. 19 debut.
"Lotteries nationwide have been working to develop new game concepts, and Monopoly Millionaires' Club was a result of those efforts," she added.
Texas announced Thursday that it would stop selling the game after the next day's drawing, and winners would be given 180 days from their drawing dates to claim their prizes.
The Texas lottery said that "sales for the game have not met the lottery industry's projections and have continued to decline nationally since its introduction."
"Unfortunately, players have not embraced the game as anticipated, and our options to change the game while it is being sold are limited in scope and challenging to implement," said Texas Lottery Director Gary Grief.
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