Treasurer: Lottery’s future is online
But retailers fear revenue loss
‘This isn’t something states are rushing into . ... We want to protect local mom and pop shops and we want to protect jobs.’ JON HURST president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts
Treasurer Deborah B. Goldberg is looking to the state of Michigan as a model in her mission to get the Massachusetts Lottery online, but some small businesses aren’t keen on the idea.
Goldberg says she has two options: to “very well manage the lottery’s decline” or to “take it to the future.”
Goldberg has been working with local businesses and convenience store owners who are anxious that online sales would cause them to lose business.
“They also are fearful of losing the revenue, their commissions that they get on lottery tickets, so we’ve been trying to work handin-hand with them, helping them develop a greater comfort level,” she said at a meeting yesterday with the Boston Herald Editorial Board.
Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, said lotteries are moving online slowly for a reason.
“This isn’t something states are rushing into ... We want to protect local mom and pop shops and we want to protect jobs,” he said, reacting to Goldberg’s comments.
Michigan’s lottery went online in 2014 and data since then show a growth in sales among retailers that aligns with the online lottery, according to Goldberg.
“The online lottery is reaching a new customer,” Goldberg said.
She pointed to the current Mega Millions jackpot, now exceeding $1.6 billion, as an example of where the Massachusetts Lottery misses sales without an online presence.
“You’re going to be online buying that in your state, should you have that opportunity,” she said.
Hurst disagrees. “If you take away the reason of going into buy a lottery ticket, you’re not only losing sale of lottery ticket, you’re losing other sales as well and that’s a huge problem,” he said. “State government should be looking at ways to make sure businesses can survive and thrive in the future.”
Goldberg said the lottery will see additional pressure from sports betting, which will be before lawmakers again next session.
“I will be at that table,” she said. “If they put sports betting online, they have to put the lottery online because their local communities are going to get harmed. We’re the only source of unrestricted local money for every single solitary city and town in the state and they will hear from their boards of selectmen and their mayors if lottery monies decline.”