Massachusetts Treasurer Deborah Goldberg is making a fresh push to bring online lottery to the state in a bid to secure the sector’s growth
Massachusetts is in the middle of expanding its casino industry, but the state’s Treasurer is looking to diversify the available gambling offering even more with a bill calling for the authorization of online lottery sales.
Lottery has been a staple product for residents of the state for more than five decades and while sales have shown a stable growth in the past several years, State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg believes that something needs to be done so that the upward trend continues.
According to Ms. Goldberg, introducing online lottery could be that game-changing something that would secure the stability of the sector. The State Treasurer submitted earlier this year a bill that will pave the way for the establishment of an online lottery system, if the piece enough traction in the Legislature.
The Massachusetts lottery raked in $997 million in net profit last year and $1.04 billion in 2017. Revenues generated in 2018 totaled $5.3 billion and marked the fourth straight year of passing the $5 billion mark.
Treasurer Goldberg has said that while retail lottery products have shown excellent performance over the years and have contributed funds in the form of local aids to the state’s cities and towns, its growth has not been keeping up with inflation.
She has further explained that retailers as well as convenience store and gas station owners would suffer without online lottery and that she wants to protect such businesses. According to the Massachusetts Treasurer, bringing the Lottery online “is critical in continuing to maintain profits, stay relevant, and deliver maximum local aid.”
Treated with Scepticism
While Treasurer Goldberg is determined to bring online lottery to the state and is convinced that the push would only benefit Massachusetts, her bill was met with some scepticism by fellow lawmakers.
Sen. Tom Golden has come out as one of the opponents of the move. He has voiced concerns that online lottery could harm retailers, instead of helping them, by drawing people away from local stores and markets.
For many residents of the state, buying a lottery ticket gives them an incentive to make the trip to their local store, and once they are at the store they might decide to do some more shopping. Such trips benefit store owners and provider further incentives if someone wins a prize.
Many store owners have, too, expressed concerns that online sales could harm their businesses. And smaller business rely heavily on selling lottery tickets and related products.
Commenting on the online lottery authorization effort, the Executive Director of the New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association, Jonathan Shaer, has said that they find the idea of an online component to the lottery “extremely concerning” and that they find it hard to get behind that idea until lawmakers can demonstrate that it will not do both short-term and long-term harm to retailers.
Mr. Shaer has also proposed alternative ideas to an outright introduction of online lottery, including cashless sales of lottery tickets. He has noted that lotteries are currently a cash-only product, which makes them less appealing to younger generations who are not that accustomed to carrying cash with them or at least not as much as older generations.
Treasurer Goldberg has said that she would make sure that online lotteries do not harm the state’s retailers in any way when and if introduced.
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