Massachusetts consumers will be able to purchase lottery tickets online following Governor Maura Healey’s approval of the 2025 budget. The budget, signed by Healey on July 29, allows for the online sale of lottery tickets.
Although Healey’s signature officially makes the online lottery legal in the Bay State, it could be another 16 months before players can purchase tickets.
Gov. Healey’s budget approval makes Massachusetts online lottery legal
According to the Massachusetts Lottery, online lottery ticket sales will not be available until late in 2025. Mark Bracken, the Massachusetts Lottery Executive Director, said he expects the online lottery component to be launched in “approximately 16 months”, according to an interview with MassLive.
The budget’s provisions also permit e-instant games, which will allow Commonwealth residents to play new game titles online via a website or lottery mobile app. However, the Massachusetts Lottery still needs to find a partner to provide the online lottery platform.
Massachusetts online lottery tax revenue would provide important community assistance
The 2025 budget calls for some of the revenue from the new online lottery to be used for programs to assist the most vulnerable children in the Commonwealth. Tax revenue from the lottery is earmarked for funding early childhood education.
The Massachusetts Lottery launched in 1971, making it one of the oldest lottery games in the United States. It has produced in excess of $150 billion in tax revenue. Experts predict iLottery sales could help lead to an additional $100 million in taxes each year.
Retail sales can benefit from online Massachusetts Lottery
Online lottery opponents view iLottery legalization as a threat to brick-and-mortar lottery retailers. Christian Teja, the Massachusetts Lottery Commission’s director of communications, doesn’t see it this way.
Teja said:
“If you look at the states that have implemented iLottery, the retail sales have continued to grow.”
Several states in the region have both retail and online lottery sales, including New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. Not only are online lottery systems convenient for consumers, they provide features that are unavailable at lottery retailers. Players can impose limits on their spending, automate purchases, and transfer winnings directly to their banking accounts. In many cases, new players are attracted to an iLottery platform, as well as the e-games that are added as part of an online lottery.
Lawmakers have been trying to legalize an online lottery product in Massachusetts for years, and bills have been proposed to do just that since at least 2017. This time, a compromise by state legislators placed the issue in the state budget, sending the decision to Healey for a final signature. The key concession was to divert some of the expected tax revenue to help vulnerable children in Massachusetts.
