In response to declining sales among digitally savvy young adults, the Massachusetts State Lottery is calling on lawmakers to open a new gambling frontier — lottery games offered around the clock on mobile devices and computers.
"The only way to reach the younger market is via online lottery games," said state Treasurer Deb Goldberg, who oversees the Lottery Commission. "It's the future and we need to face it."
Goldberg said the state lottery has studied online games and is now seeking legislative approval of a pilot program that would require players to register online and use a credit card.
The ease of playing a digital lottery, either through a website or mobile application, raises concerns about compulsive gambling, and officials are studying potential safeguards, such as requiring players to set daily, weekly, and monthly spending caps.
When players hit their limit, they would be barred from further purchases, said Michael Sweeney, the lottery's executive director. They could not raise their limits until a "cooling off" period of several days, he said.
"We think this is a reasonable public health approach to compulsive gambling," Goldberg said.
But advocates for problem gamblers, who have long denounced the lottery as a regressive tax that preys on the poor, were unconvinced. Making drawings available around the clock will make a bad problem worse, they said.
"We think there are definite risk factors, like the speed of play, 24-hour access, the use of credit cards, and social isolation," said Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling in Washington, D.C. "The advent of online lottery games means you can go home when you're done at the casino and continue gambling all night long."
But state Senator Jennifer Flanagan, a Leominster Democrat, said moving the lottery online could expand sales at a time when the state is facing a yawning budget deficit.
"We have a responsibility to look at every possible source of new revenue, and this is one of them," she said.
Flanagan said she believed there is significant support for the idea in the Senate. In the House, a spokesman for Speaker Robert DeLeo said only that a proposal to allow online lottery games "remains under review" by the Ways and Means Committee.
About a half-dozen states are running online lottery games, including Michigan, which quietly launched the drawings two years ago with little marketing research, said Jeff Holyfield, a spokesman for the Michigan lottery. Since then, some 350,000 people have registered to play online.
"It's really proving to be quite popular," Holyfield said. "Our launch opened a lot of eyes across the country. Lots of states are looking at it now."
The online games have increased overall lottery revenue by about $60 million a year, he said, and have not cut into sales at convenience stores or other retail outlets. On the contrary, commissions paid to lottery retailers are at a record levels, he said.
"Retailers were justifiably skeptical, but I think we've won them over," he said.
Massachusetts' lottery has been considered the country's most successful, raising about $1 billion a year for local services such as public safety and education. But marketing studies show a clear preference for online tickets among people younger than 40, and Goldberg said the state can expect a sharp decline in revenue in the years to come if the lottery fails to adapt to the new digital reality.
"There's been a tremendous change in technology, so instead of waiting for five years, and then playing catch-up, we are being proactive," she said. "There is no way to grow the business, or even sustain it, without evolving with the technology."
State lottery officials say the online drawings will supplement, not replace, traditional paper tickets. But convenience stores, many of which rely heavily on lottery sales, are worried a digital alternative would drive away many regular players.
"Online lottery games would mean a tremendous loss of business for our members," said Joanne Mendes, executive director of the New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association, which represents convenience stores from the giant chains such as 7-Eleven and Cumberland Farms to neighborhood mom-and-pop stores. "We need foot traffic to survive and thrive."
If online games are approved, the state lottery plans to launch a marketing plan to help stores maintain sales, Goldberg said. One idea is to link the sale of gift cards at brick-and-mortar outlets to online lottery games, with the possible inclusion of free play. Another is to require anyone who wins a certain amount to claim it in person at a lottery retailer.
"It used to be lottery tickets sold themselves," Goldberg said. "Now we will go out and market them."
Outside a convenience store in North Quincy, a middle-aged man named Chester, who asked that his last name not be used, juggled his mobile phone and a fistful of recently purchased lottery tickets. Online lottery games, he said with a grin, would "make things a lot easier."
But another lottery patron, Barbara, 65, said she was old-fashioned and liked her daily routine of buying at the store.
"For one thing, I really don't trust using a credit card online," she said.
These lottery retailers should be punished for not paying people when some one wins $500 and always lying...And Now they are worried of online games?? Screw these greedy retailers
All online lottery info goes to the State dept of Revenue and the IRS. A series of small winnings could result in a tax liability. No thanks.
That would be enough to dissuade me from using it on a regular basis, but a few times a year something comes up that I can't make it to the store. I'd probably take the risk to get my tickets online on those rare occasions.
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Mr. LiveInGreenBay,
Most excellent point.
I never thought about the online info. thing, and the State, and IRS.
You may have just saved me from God-may-know-what kind of future hassles.
I used to think online lotto would be a "cure-all". Now, I am better informed.
Thank you. Now, I too say no to online Lotto, AND subscriptions.
I don't mind walking (if I have to) to my local store to get my tickets (where I can also pick up a soda, or "icee", or "slush puppy", though those icy drinks tend to give me brain-freeze like you don't want to know. I had to TOTALLY stop eating ice cream, as a result. BIG BUMMER. Nobody should get the brain-freezes I get, from those drinks or any ice cream. Often, I come close to passing out. It can happen ANYWHERE. So, if you ever happen to pull into to a Sheetz, WAWA, 7/11 or Circle K, and see someone lying on the parking lot surface (that, I mean, hasn't been shot), OR slumped over the soda fountain, please call out "Groppo are you ok?", "Groppo, did you remember your tickets?").
Mr. Groppo
I get that too when I drink a Slurpee too fast
Taken from Wikipedia: An ice cream headache is the direct result of the rapid cooling and rewarming of the capillaries in the sinuses. A similar but painless blood vessel response causes the face to appear "flushed" after being outside on a cold day. In both instances, the cold temperature causes the capillaries in the sinuses to constrict and then experience extreme rebound dilation as they warm up again.[10]
In the palate, this dilation is sensed by nearby pain receptors, which then send signals back to the brain via the trigeminal nerve, one of the major nerves of the facial area. This nerve also senses facial pain, so as the neural signals are conducted the brain interprets the pain as coming from the forehead—the same "referred pain" phenomenon seen in heart attacks. Brain-freeze pain may last from a few seconds to a few minutes. Research suggests that the same vascular mechanism and nerve implicated in "brain freeze" cause the aura (sensory disturbance) and pulsatile (throbbing pain) phases of migraines.[11]
It is possible to suffer from an ice-cream headache in both hot and cold weather, because the effect relies upon the temperature of the food being consumed rather than that of the environment.
To relieve pain, some doctors suggest pressing the tongue against the roof of the mouth to warm the area[13] or tilting the head back for about 20 seconds. Another method to relieve ice-cream headaches is to drink a liquid that has a higher temperature than the substance that caused the ice-cream headache. Some people report relief by breathing in through the mouth and out through the nose, thus passing warm air through the nasal passages.
Make sure you buy your lottery tickets prior to consuming your Slurpee
Your welcome Groppo. The government already has way too much info on all of us, they don't need anymore than absolutely necessary.
We have online ticket sales in the UK, not sure on the % of people who play it but I expect it to be really high compared to retail sales... although I still buy from a retailer since I just prefer having the actual ticket in my hand that I can sign the back etc.. also it's nice to just dig out your change from your pocket and get rid of it that way!
Don't know how it works in the UK but in Wisconsin, the retailer gets X amount of cents for each lottery ticket sold and if they sell a winning ticket they get a percentage of the jackpot. I like to support local retailers.
Online ticket sales/subscriptions may be great for nations that don't tax lottery winnings. In the good ol' U.S of A however, online subscriptions have very nasty pitfalls. Every red cent you win is documented under your name as part ot your earned income. I like buying real tickets that I can hold in my hands. When I win secondary prizes, I just use that money for more tickets, no questions asked.
The Massachusetts Lottery should look at the New York Lottery's online subscription service. I especially like how small prizes can be credited to subscription accounts. It is very convenient for subscribers and more efficient for the lottery.
Be done with it!
Currently in KY IF you go to the store and ask for an igift/ifund for $20 they give you $5 free, can't beat that. Massachusetts is much more progressive than KY IMO, so was taken back when online purchases made it here first.
Time to open up my UPS envelope; Massachusetts Megabucks Doubler ticket came today!
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Good info. I will try the tongue on the roof of the mouth thing, but I can't believe I haven't, already.
So, it sounds like it may be more common than I imagined.
Anyway, thanks for all that.
I wonder why they want to do online games?