Online lottery is finally a reality in Massachusetts after Gov. Maura Healey signed the 2025 budget into law on Monday, including a provision to allow online lottery sales and einstant games.
The Massachusetts State Lottery Commission will now conduct a process to find an operator for the online system. Massachusetts Lottery Executive Director Mark Bracken told MassLive that he anticipates launching the online platform in “approximately 16 months”, equating to late 2025.
Expansion includes draw games and new einstant games
Unlike lottery sales in retail stores, where the minimum age is 18, online lottery players will have to be aged 21 or older to play.
In addition to being able to purchase draw game tickets online, Massachusetts players can also play einstant games, which are very similar to online slot machines. Many of the manufacturers of online slots games also create similar titles for einstant games. Some einstant games even have progressive jackpots like slot machines.
Several Pennsylvania casino operators attempted to sue the lottery, claiming the games were too similar to online slot machines and were in violation of the law, but a judge tossed the case in 2021.
In accordance with state law, money raised from online lottery ticket sales will be used for early childhood education and care. A portion of the new revenue generated by iLottery would fund grants intended to help the state’s most vulnerable children.
The Massachusetts State Lottery says it has generated over $155 billion in revenues from its land-based operations since 1972. The addition of online sales is expected to yield an extra $100 million in revenue per year.
“We are prepared to implement a safe and reliable iLottery that will produce significant resources for critical childcare services, which are so desperately needed across the state,” said State Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg.
The Massachusetts State Lottery Commission is confident the addition of online lottery offerings will prove to be complementary to existing retail lottery providers. “If you look at the states that have implemented iLottery, the retail sales have continued to grow,” said Christian Teja, director of communications for the lottery commission.
Bracken said that protecting the lottery’s retail partners is top of mind and pointed to nearby states including New Hampshire and Pennsylvania as evidence of what a successful partnership between online lottery and retail stores can do for a state lottery. Massachusetts Lottery online players will earn rewards that will only be usable at in-store partners.
Bracek and Teja also stressed that there will be robust player protection measures. “The advantages of iLottery are that people can impose limits, we can impose limits, people can self-exclude when they want to take a break,” said Teja.
Result of years-long push
The legalization is the result of a years-long drive to expand into an online market.
Goldberg is just one legislator who has been a vocal proponent of an online lottery, and said as far back as 2017 that, “I don’t want to wait until we no longer have the level of profits we have, I would like to be more proactive.”
Advocates for allowing online lottery sales have pointed not only to the revenue opportunities but increased competition. Within the lottery space alone, the fact that neighboring states such as New Hampshire and Rhode Island both have online lottery games has been seen as a risk to a retail-only Massachusetts Lottery’s profitability.
“We’re the last gambling holdout… to be able to go online,” Bracken said during a lottery commission meeting earlier this year. “Someone who is able to sit and play sports betting — that’s a major concern for us. A lottery player is not able to do the same.”
The calls for an online lottery had grown louder in the two years since the state legalized online sports betting in 2022. Goldberg added that online operations, “will allow the Lottery to keep pace with its competition and reach newer audiences.”
Lottery officials have voiced concern that the proliferation of online sports betting will threaten lottery revenues. That isn’t exactly evidenced by the numbers: for fiscal year 2024, the Massachusetts Lottery’s total sales revenue was $6.2 billion. Around $1.2 billion in net profit was returned to the state.
Bracken said that the Massachusetts Lottery app and website were both built with the capacity to accommodate a future iLottery. There are already around 350,000 existing players who have already been verified.
