iLottery could soon light up Massachusetts screens after legislative negotiators included language in a compromise budget deal to make online sales legal, a move the Lottery Director said will give players a “modern lottery experience.”
The $58 billion budget plan was unveiled on Thursday and included other items like free community college for every state resident, and setting aside hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for the MBTA.
Online lottery sales are expected to drive $100 million in revenue for the state.
Lawmakers in the majority-Democrat state House and Senate are expected to vote on the bill on Friday and send it to Gov. Maura Healey’s desk. The new fiscal year started on July 1. And lawmakers are racing to finish their business before the end of formal sessions on July 31.
iLottery was not included in the Senate’s budget in May this year as legislators had concerns over the length of time it would take for revenue generation and brick-and-mortar store problems.
But Bracken told MassLive last year that the $2.50-per-ticket-sold financial gain lottery agents — like convenience shops and restaurants — would receive from players purchasing tickets is a part of iLottery platform’s “secondary value” it’d hold over other online game platforms, like sports betting.
On Friday morning, Senate President Karen Spilka, D-Middlesex/Norfolk, told WBUR’s “Radio Boston” program the Senate had changed its position on iLottery by upping the platform’s restrictions, including a raised age requirement.
“This is part of the reason why we negotiate a budget; we sit with the House and we work through their provisions. They work through ours,” the Ashland lawmaker told WBUR.
“We were able to negotiate what we believe are better protections in iLottery. We raised the age of those that could participate from 18 to 21. We prohibited predatory advertising against minors and got other controls through negotiation so we felt more comfortable with it this time,” she said.
The age requirement for online lottery will not affect ticket sales in brick-and-mortar retail stores, the Lottery confirmed to MassLive.
State Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg, the chair of the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission, said the Lottery is looking to make iLottrery “safe” and “reliable.”
“Online Lottery in the final FY25 budget is great news. This will allow the Lottery to keep pace with its competition and reach newer audiences,” Goldberg said.
“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,” the Treasurer said. She thanked state House Speaker Ron Mariano, D-3rd Norfolk, Spilka, the respective chairs of the House and Senate Ways & Means committees, and other legislators.
“We are excited to get to work,” Goldberg said.
https://www.masslive.com/politics/2024/07/ilottery-in-mass-budget-deal-could-give-way-to-modern-experience-director-says.html#:~:text=iLottery%20could%20soon%20light%20up,a%20%E2%80%9Cmodern%20lottery%20experience.%E2%80%9D