For the fourth consecutive month, sales were down at the Massachusetts Lottery in May.

Executive Director Mark William Bracken told the Lottery Commission on Tuesday that the agency sold $572.7 million worth of its products last month, a decrease of $3.5 million or 0.6% compared to May 2024. The last month to post a year-over-year sales increase was January.

The only products to post a sales increase in May were Keno, which saw its sales climb by $1.9 million or 1.5% to $125.8 million for the month, and scratch tickets, which were up $1.5 million or 0.4% to total $386.4 million in sales. Together, those two product categories accounted for 89.5% of all Lottery sales last month.

Bracken said the Lottery turned an estimated profit of $117.5 million in May, a $3.2 million increase over last May that the executive director attributed to a $7.9 million decrease in the value of scratch ticket grand prizes claimed last month compared to May 2024.

Through 11 months of fiscal year 2025, the Lottery’s year-to-date sales are down $182.4 million or 3.2% compared to the same time period in fiscal 2024. Jackpot-dependent multi-state draw games are posting some the most severe declines this year -- Powerball sales are down $119.5 million or 58.5% and Mega Millions sales are down $37.4 million or 26.9%. Scratch tickets sales so far this year are down $52.4 million or 1.42%.

Bracken told the commission Tuesday that the Lottery’s prize payout percentage, which affects how much revenue is converted to profit to be returned as local aid to cities and towns, remains elevated as the end of the year approaches. That figure has been on the commission’s radar for most of fiscal 2025.

“Our estimated year-to-date prize payout for the first 11 months is 74.24% compared to 73.46% for the first 11 months of last fiscal year. And ... you’ll see, as we’ve been watching the trend, the overall prize payout is tapering down, but it is still our highest prize payout that we’ve had in the last five fiscal years,” he said Tuesday.

With just one month’s results left to count towards fiscal 2025, Bracken said the Lottery has so far generated an estimated profit of $990.1 million, which he said trails last year’s pace by $88.8 million. The Lottery produced $1.159 billion in net profit during fiscal year 2024. Treasurer Deborah Goldberg has told lawmakers they can expect the Lottery to generate $1.05 billion in profit for fiscal 2025, and she’s also projected “flat” retail sales and profit for fiscal 2026.