Lotteries are no longer guaranteed cash cows for US state governments, probably because they’re so damn boring.

On Thursday, the Pew Charitable Trusts published data showing that fully half of the 44 states that allow lotteries saw lottery revenue fall between 2014 and 2015. The phenomenon isn’t entirely new, as 21 states reported lottery sales declines between 2013 and 2014.

Lottery participation by US citizens has been steadily decreasing since 1999, when a Gallup poll found that 57% of respondents had purchased a lottery ticket in the past 12 months. That figure fell to 49% in 2016, and keep in mind that there were only 37 lottery states in 1999.

The decline in lottery sales is being blamed on an unholy trinity of ‘jackpot fatigue’ – players opting not to play unless the top prize on offer gets up into the mid-nine-figures or higher – plus increased competition from rival gaming options like casinos and the general disinterest in lotteries shown by the so-called millennial generation.

There may be more millennials walking in the face of the Earth at present but only a few of them are playing lottery.

This is the stark reality that technology start-up AutoLotto has to face as only one-third of people aged 20 to 35 bought lottery ticket last year. While lotteries racked up $80 billion in sales last, the numbers are declining.

CNBC reported that AutoLotto is attempting to lure millennials in playing lottery through their app which allows users to buy tickets from their smartphone. The app, according to the report, also lets users scan a paper ticket purchased in-store to track it, and get notifications if they win.

So far, the effort of AutoLotto has reaped the company positive results. It said that 57 percent of their user base are now millennials.

A controversial program has allowed New York state to claw back close to $20m in lottery winnings over the past four years from recipients of social assistance programs.

Lots of people arched their eyebrows this spring when Republicans in the House of Representatives unveiled their proposed (and ultimately rejected) health care legislation, which devoted an inordinate amount of its copy to specifics on how to deny Medicaid benefits to anyone lucky enough to have won a significant lottery prize.

At least seven US states have some type of clawback program on their books that allow local governments to deduct unpaid taxes or child support payments from gambling winnings. However, New York state is the only one that enforces this policy against social assistance payments.

Under New York law, anyone wishing to claim a lottery prize over $600 must present themselves at a state lottery center, where their Social Security number is checked against the register of social assistance programs. If the search turns up a match, the state can claw back the entire amount of public funds the winner has received over the past 10 years, provided it doesn’t exceed 50% of the lottery prize being claimed.

Winning the elusive lottery jackpot in India now comes with a hefty price tag.

Last week, private lottery distributor Playwin announced on Twitter that it has “revised prices” for its lottery game tickets, effective July 1. The lottery brand of Indian conglomerate Essel Group pinned the ticket price hike “on account of GST.”

If you recall, the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council ordered in June a dual tax rate for lottery tickets in the country. Under the dual tax rate, state-run lotteries, which do not have private distributors or marketing agents, will be charged a 12 percent GST rate, while lotteries operated by private distributors will fall under the highest tax slab of 28 percent.

Playwin, which falls under the latter category, decided to up its tickets’ prices by as much as 30 percent, reported GLaws.in’s Jay Sayta, noting that the ticket for last week’s Saturday Super Lotto went up from INR10 (US$0.15) to INR13 (US$0.20). Saturday Super Lotto is promoted by the Sikkim government and has a total prize pool of INR3.25 crore (US$502,668.08).