Authorization for the Massachusetts Lottery to sell its products online is not likely to come in 2017, the Senate president said Wednesday morning, and action in 2018 may hinge upon whether online Lottery sales would harm small businesses.
Treasurer Deborah Goldberg and the Lottery again this session are seeking authority from the Legislature to offer current products — scratch tickets, draw games, Keno and more — to customers over the internet, arguing that the Lottery’s survival and the hundreds of millions of dollars it returns as local aid are otherwise at risk.
Meanwhile, a special commission formed by the Legislature is looking into legalizing and regulating fantasy sports, eSports and non-Lottery online gaming, and has been tasked with making recommendations for legislation by July 31.
“Online lottery and online gaming are both issues that are being reviewed now to try to figure out how we manage the situation so we don’t hurt the Lottery,” Rosenberg said on Boston Herald Radio. “And in the case of online gaming that we don’t hurt the casino industry we’re building in Massachusetts.”
Rosenberg said research on both topics is expected to be completed this calendar year, “So we could potentially act next year, potentially.”
The Senate in 2016 voted 22-17 to approve online Lottery offerings, but the amendment to an economic development bill failed in House-Senate negotiations. Rosenberg did not vote on that roll call.
On Tuesday, the Boston Globe reported that a survey commissioned by opponents of online lottery — including convenience and package store owners — found that almost 70 percent of Massachusetts voters do not support the idea of an online lottery.
Being told to wait until 2018 likely will not sit well with the Massachusetts Lottery Commission. The group’s April meeting featured commissioners pressing Lottery officials for an update on the treasurer’s bill and expressing angst over the initiative’s lack of progress.
At one point during the meeting, after Lottery Executive Director Michael Sweeney outlined arguments in favor of online lottery, Commissioner Anthony Salvidio, appointed to the commission by Gov. Charlie Baker, asked, “What is it going to take for legislators to realize this, a complete collapse of the revenue of the Lottery before they get on this?”
The Legislature relies on the Lottery to generate annual profits, which are returned to cities and towns as unrestricted local aid, and though the last two years have set records for Lottery profits, Goldberg has cautioned lawmakers that the string of records will not continue unless the Lottery adapts to compete with the state’s developing casino gaming industry and online daily fantasy sports contests.
Goldberg’s office declined to comment Wednesday other than to say that she looks forward to continuing the conversation about “protecting the future of the Lottery” with lawmakers and other stakeholders.