Massachusetts lawmakers revive online lottery push
Two new bills filed with the state legislature after 2016 gridlock
Massachusetts lawmakers have filed two new bills seeking to legalize online lottery in the state, after similar efforts failed in the 2016 legislative session.
State senator Jennifer Flanagan has brought back a version of her 2016 bill that allows the lottery to be “conducted online, over the internet or through the use of mobile applications”.
The bill passed the Senate last year, but was never voted on in the House.
It is unclear if the legislation will allow instant win games to be played online, although it says the lottery commission will be able to choose “the types of lottery conducted”.
Flanagan said her bill was an effort to keep up with technology, with lottery sales expected to fall in Massachusetts this year.
“The reality is people do everything on their phones,” Flanagan said. “And the truth of the matter is people have a different way of going about business now. We have a generation of people who don’t go into the gas stations and pay with cash.”
State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg has introduced similar legislation allowing the lottery to offer online games and sales, telling local media it was a way to modernize an aging system.
“I had to come around to this thinking because I myself hadn’t thought about online lottery games, but I saw the way millennials are operating is really online,” Goldberg said.
“This past Christmas shopping season, Cyber Monday outperformed Black Friday. We really want to be prepared to have a more modern, forward-thinking product.”
Massachusetts is also exploring the potential for all forms of online gaming in the state, with the Online Gaming Study Commission set up last year to investigate whether to legalise ilottery, DFS online casino and poker.