Predicting flat lottery sales, Massachusetts Treasurer Deborah Goldberg seeks big ad budget increase
The Massachusetts Lottery will need millions of additional dollars to keep up with “dramatically” increasing costs, Treasurer Deborah Goldberg wrote to lawmakers in testimony Thursday, alongside other budget requests for more ad dollars and new cars for alcohol inspectors.
Gov. Maura Healey recommended a $5.4 million boost to the Lottery’s operating account in her fiscal 2026 budget proposal, but Goldberg said the Lottery actually needs $13.6 million over this fiscal year — a total of $123.8 million — in order to “proactively address changing business and operational needs.”
“From thermal paper costs to shipping and phone contracts, our hard costs have increased dramatically. This leaves little room to put product on the shelves,” the treasurer said in written testimony to the Joint Ways and Means Committee, according to a copy shared with the News Service.
The Lottery’s executive director, Mark William Bracken, said at a December commission meeting that tariffs on Canadian imports could raise costs.
“A lot of the paper that these companies uses come from Canada and come across border, so we could be seeing some significant increases if, in fact, tariffs are implemented like it has been said that they will be by the incoming president,” Bracken said at the time.
The treasurer said her team is projecting “flat” retail Lottery sales and a net profit of $1.05 billion for fiscal 2026, the same target in place for fiscal 2025.
Goldberg also asked lawmakers to boost the Lottery’s advertising budget by two-thirds as Lottery products fight for oxygen with barrages of casino and sports betting ads. The Lottery’s ad budget has been a point of debate on Beacon Hill for decades and Goldberg has ramped up her calls for more money in recent years.
“An increase to $10 million is desperately needed,” she said, in order to “help the Lottery maintain market share and attract new customers.”
Healey’s budget bill would increase the ad account to $10 million from its $6 million fiscal 2025 level.
Goldberg, whose office oversees the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission and its investigators, asked for more than $750,000 on top of the governor’s fiscal 2026 budget recommendation to “enable the ABCC to continue replacing its aging fleet with 12 new hybrid vehicles.”
She also asked budget writers to bump up the cap on Veterans’ Bonus Division allowable operating expenses, noting that the cap has not been raised since fiscal 2021 and that “flexibility in funding” would help with hiring staff and reaching out to veterans.
Outside sections of Healey’s bill regarding two retirement savings plans won support from the treasurer, who asked lawmakers to carry them through to final passage.
The CORE Plan, which offers tax-deferred savings for nonprofit organizations with 20 or fewer employees, would be expanded to cover nonprofits with up to 100 employees. And new state employees would be automatically enrolled in a SMART Plan savings account with the ability to opt out.
“In Massachusetts, full-time state employees do not pay into Social Security and face a 10-year credible service vesting period for state pension benefits. This makes it more difficult to adequately prepare for their retirement,” said Goldberg, who hit her 10-year mark as treasurer in January.
https://www.wwlp.com/news/massachusetts/predicting-flat-lottery-sales-goldberg-seeks-big-ad-budget-increase/