AUGUSTA — High fuel prices apparently have not put a damper on state lottery ticket sales, with the lottery reporting it will end the fiscal year $600,000 over budget.

Lottery Director Dan Gwadosky said that, while instant or scratch ticket sales — the ones people buy with those now elusive spare dollars in their pocket while in the checkout line — are down, sales for the higher-stakes games such as Megabucks and Powerball are up more than 4 percent.

“Instant sales clearly suffered from the drop in spontaneous purchases where a person goes in to buy gas, and purchases some scratch tickets,” Gwadosky said.

But for Megabucks and Powerball, where winning, regardless of the bad odds, could be a life-changing event, people still are betting.

“Perhaps, with the economy being what it is, people are still dreaming about that big jackpot win,” Gwadosky said.

Lottery directors across the country have been worried about losing revenue because of the recession and have tried to increase interest in the games. Gwadosky said his goal has been to increase the so-called online games like Megabucks and Powerball, because the state makes more money off them.

One ad campaign touts — “Dream a Little, Dream a Lot,” encouraging people to buy both a Megabucks and a Powerball — with the latter having a higher payout. A second up-sell is to get people to pay an extra dollar for their Powerball ticket and get a Power Play, which adds a multiplier to winnings other than the jackpot.

A ticket sold in Jackman over the weekend, for example, went from being worth $200,000 to $600,000 because of the $1 Power Play add-on.

“That dollar was a good investment,” said Gwadosky.

The lottery actually lowered its anticipated profit this year because of the looming recession, but beat that budget by $600,000 and is only down less than 1 percent on sales — all in scratch tickets that make up more than 70 percent of overall lottery sales.

The lottery will contribute $49.4 million to state coffers this year on sales of $228.6 million. Of that money, $145 million is paid out in prizes; $16.8 million goes out as commission to stores that sell tickets; $11.8 million goes to the vendor that creates the games; $4.5 million pays for operation of the state lottery and liquor department; and, $900,000 goes to the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund based on a special ticket that is sold specifically to benefit that cause.

Massachusetts is having an even better year making money in a down economy.

That state’s lottery hit an all-time record of $4.7 billion in sales — $237 million over the previous year. Scratch tickets there were the big draw, including a $20 “blockbuster” ticket, with sales of $600 million.

Maine also sells a $20 scratch ticket, but it brought in just under $28 million compared to $31 million last year.

Gwadosky, who also oversees liquor sales, said people apparently are not drinking less because of the economy, although they may be buying less expensive brands.

Hard liquor sales for the first six months of the year are up 4 percent over the same time period last year. That increase is due to increased sales and price increases by the manufacturers. The number of cases sold in the first six months of this year was up 2 percent.

Liquor sales are budgeted on a calendar year, while lottery sales are budgeted on a fiscal year that ended June 30.