By Colin A. Young, July 27, 2026
The Massachusetts Lottery officially entered the digital world Monday with the launch of Mass. Lottery Online, the long-awaited online sales and gameplay platform that Treasurer Deborah Goldberg and other Lottery officials say is necessary for the agency to remain relevant and producing in excess of $1 billion a year in revenue in an era of widespread and convenient gambling options.
“The launch of our online platform marks an exciting new chapter for the Lottery as we continue to evolve and meet the needs of today’s players,” Goldberg, who chairs the Lottery Commission, said Monday. “Online lottery will allow us to compete on a more level playing field in the state’s gaming marketplace and sales will help make childcare more affordable for families across Massachusetts.”
Retailers for years have counted on scratch ticket and numbers game players to visit stores to buy tickets, and those options will remain available although the new online games will let players more easily purchase tickets. And the online offerings are limited to players 21 years or older, while retail sales still have a minimum age of 18 years. The revenue from the new sales will be directed towards support for early childhood education and care.
MassBudget Reference:
Casinos, the Lottery, and regulated sports betting together generated more than $1.5 billion in state revenue in fiscal year 2025 — more than what the state took in from the gas tax ($742 million), the estate tax ($517 million) cigarettes ($262 million) or alcohol ($98 million), according to MassBudget. Only the state income tax ($26.6 billion), sales tax ($9.6 billion) and taxes on corporations ($4.1 billion) brought in more to state coffers.
But as a percentage of the state budget, gambling revenue has declined over the last 25 years, the report said. In fiscal 2025, gambling revenues represented 2.23% of the state budget. That was “a considerably smaller share of the state budget” than the Mass. Lottery covered on its own in 2002, 3.71%, according to the report.
“Impressively large as the Lottery may be, its growth has slowed considerably in recent decades. Adjusting for inflation, the value of state revenue generated by the Lottery peaked in 2002 and has fallen by a third since,” MassBudget said last year.
