A woman in Massachusetts won $1 million through the state lottery not once but twice over the last 10 weeks.
With $2 million of winnings in such a short period of time, the life of Christine Wilson has changed rapidly.
These wins are great PR for the lottery. But since the lottery still lacks online options, it remains behind the Massachusetts sports betting industry’s market share. Massachusetts Lottery Director Mark Bracken is calling on the state to bring the lottery online to keep pace.
Woman logs two $1 million Massachusetts Lottery wins
Wilson became a two-time lottery winner over two and a half months by playing Massachusetts State Lottery instant ticket games.
The first $1 million win came from a $50 instant ticket game, Lifetime Millions. That ticket was purchased on February 23 at Dub’s Discount Liquors which sits at 30 Chauncy St.
The second $1 million win came from the instant ticket game known as 100X Cash, which is a $10 game. According to a lottery release, the ticket was purchased on May 1 at a Family Food Mart, which sits at 660 East St.
Both locations where Wilson purchased these winning tickets were in Mansfield, which is a city about 30 miles outside of Boston.
Once Wilson won her first $1 million prize, she used some money to buy a new SUV. Now, with another chuck of cash on its way, Wilson plans to save her newest winnings.
Wilson took both of her winnings as a one-time payment of $650,000, which means in total, before taxes, she collected $1.3 million.
New & popular games currently available from the Massachusetts lottery
There is no shortage of Massachusetts Lottery instant games to play for those in the state. In total, there are 114 different instant game options.
According to the Massachusetts Lottery website, these are the five most popular instant game options in the state:
- ‘$4,000,000 Lion’s Share’ — a $10 instant game with a $4 million grand prize
- ‘$1,000,000 Stacks Of Cash’ — a $5 instant game with a $1 million grand prize
- ‘JAWS’ — a $10 instant game with a $1 million grand prize
- ‘$4,000,000 Monopoly Doubler’ — a $10 instant game with a $4 million grand prize
- ‘$1,000,000 Monopoly Doubler’ — a $5 instant game with a $1 million grand prize
The state’s top three current games also happen to be three of the newest Massachusetts Lottery games. Two of the state’s other popular new additions include:
- ‘$10,000 Monopoly Doubler’ which is a $1 instant game with a $10,000 grand prize
- ‘$100,000 Monopoly Doubler’ which is a $2 instant game with a $100,000 grand prize
Massachusetts Lottery Director urges state to allow online lottery
Since 2019, the Massachusetts Lottery has been trying to get the state to legalize online lottery games to no avail.
Despite that, Bracken and the Massachusetts Lottery are still fighting to expand into the digital space.
“We’re the last gambling hold out…to be able to go online. Someone who is able to sit [at home] and play sports betting — that’s a major concern for us. A lottery player is not able to do the same.”
Bracken argues that if any gambling entity should be online, it should be the lottery because most of its funds go back to the state and its communities.
“Every single penny of the Lottery’s profits are distributed to communities throughout the state for the benefit of those who live there. Sports betting and casinos, meanwhile, are a for-profit business. In order for the Lottery to continue to meet and exceed its goals, we need to operate like any other 21st century company — we need to make our products available online.”
Companies like DraftKings and other major international gaming operators take home profits for themselves. Bracken questions if favoring those operators makes sense, saying:
“We have casinos in the state. We also have DraftKings here in the state, and a lot of money is being spent there by a lot of people. What we also have is a lottery system that right now isn’t able to compete against a DraftKings. Nothing against DraftKings, but the Lottery, that’s money coming back to cities and towns. The money spent on DraftKings is going to DraftKings.”
Massachusetts residents also want online lottery
Recently, a new Massachusetts poll asked residents a set of questions and one of them had to do with online lottery options.
“The state legislature is considering a proposal which would allow the State Lottery to sell lottery products online to customers aged 18 and over. Would you favor or oppose this proposal?”
A split 50% of those respondents noted they were in favor of online lottery sales, while 37% opposed such an option. That left 13% who abstained. Data showing public support is a big win for online lottery hopes.
