THE STATE’S ONLINE lottery is getting off to a much slower start than lawmakers forecasted, which is creating some budgetary headaches.
When the Legislature passed a $58 billion state budget in July – nearly a month late in arriving on Gov. Maura Healey’s desk – top lawmakers touted the iLottery as a new funding source for child care providers, with sales estimated at $100 million in fiscal year 2025, which ends next June 30.
Treasurer Deb Goldberg announced a new timeline for the online lottery on Tuesday, saying the initiative will not launch until April 2026, near the end of fiscal 2026. She also said the new venture will bring in only $70 million during its first full year of operation, far less than the $100 million the state’s fiscal 2025 budget had been projecting.
Goldberg has long lobbied for the Lottery, which falls under her aegis, to be able to go online, citing increased competition from casinos and sports betting and an “increasingly saturated market.”
Healey’s budget office is aware of the new timeline and committed to fully funding child care grants despite the deficit created by the iLottery’s timeline, according to a spokesperson. Healey filed a supplemental budget in September, closing out the past fiscal year 2024, with $2.5 million to help Goldberg implement iLottery.
A spokesman for House Speaker Ron Mariano said lawmakers will “continue to monitor revenue collections for the current fiscal year, just as we do on an annual basis, keeping in mind the potential for fluctuations in revenue collections and the requirement that we balance the budget at the end of each fiscal year.”
A spokesperson for Senate President Karen Spilka deferred to Healey’s budget office. While the House has supported Goldberg’s quest for an online lottery, the Senate has appeared more skeptical.
Spilka, during a May appearance on the Codcast, CommonWealth Beacon’s podcast, noted that Lottery officials relayed to lawmakers that “even if it started next fiscal year, it’s not going to produce revenue to cover some of the needed items in our budget.”
Spilka also raised concerns about the iLottery’s negative effects. “There are folks though that also say that will increase addiction to the lottery and increase costs both for the state and for families,” she said. “More families will experience financial issues because of that.”
But the final version of the fiscal 2025 budget carried the authorization for an online Lottery netting the state $100 million, even though Goldberg had warned it might not be up and running. The budget provision concerning the iLottery also calls for a “stakeholder engagement group,” which meets monthly, and met for the first time this month. That group, which advises the Lottery, includes representatives from convenience store owners, retailers, and problem gambling organizations.
Mark Bracken, the Lottery’s executive director, was in the audience on Tuesday morning when Rooney asked Goldberg about the iLottery’s start date, and yelled out April 2026. “I’ll be back next year to tell you whether that’s accurate,” Goldberg said. “It better be, Mark.”
A request for proposals from vendors to operate the iLottery has been issued. “Our noses are to the grindstone,” Goldberg said.
Once the iLottery is up and running, Massachusetts is forecasted to receive roughly $70 million in net profit in its first year of operation, $180 million in its third year, and $230 million in its fifth year, according to Goldberg.
The revenues from iLottery are expected to come in addition to the nearly $1.2 billion in net profit annually delivered by the regular Lottery, according to Bracken. The money goes to Massachusetts cities and towns.
“We expect both to grow at the same time,” said Bracken.
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