MICHIGAN – Despite Michigan’s financially healthy Internet lottery program in its inaugural 2014 year, other states have been unwilling to dive into iLottery more recently, GamblingCompliance.com reports.

A handful of states debuted electronic instant games in 2014, but the concept has since retreated, with Minnesota’s program being shut down and no other new states with campaigns for electronic sales.

Kurt Freedlund, president of Lotto Interactive Inc. and former chief operating officer of the Georgia Lottery Corporation, noted that states may be worried about a potential online gaming federal ban or 2016’s gubernatorial elections.

“Most states and lottery directors realize that going online is very important and necessary for the continued growth of the industry,” Freedlund told GamblingCompliance. “But lotteries are still a part of a government, and they are a part of all issues affecting political stakeholders in their respective states.”

At the federal level, NACS supports legislation in the House and Senate, the Restoration of America’s Wire Act (H.R. 707 and S. 1668, respectively), to reverse a 2011 U.S. Justice Department decision that reinterpreted the 1961 Wire Act—a 50-year-old law that prohibited online gambling.

A study conducted in Virginia on the revenue potential of online lottery and online gaming operations found that the state could bring in $3.5 million in profits from online lottery operations alone, or $6.4 million to $102 million through full online gaming in the first operating year.

NACS has noted that diverting lottery sales traffic to the Internet would significantly affect the profitability of convenience retailers. The average customer who comes to buy a lottery ticket spends $10.35 in the store, compared to $6.29 for non-lottery customers.