Voters oppose online lottery, survey finds

By Sean P. Murphy GLOBE STAFF  MAY 16, 2017

Nearly 70 percent of Massachusetts voters do not support legislation that would allow the state lottery to sell tickets online, a new survey has found.

Just 5 percent said they support expanding the lottery to include Internet games “very” strongly, the survey found, while 7 percent said they support the proposal “somewhat” strongly.

The survey was conducted by Princeton Research Associates on behalf of a coalition of business owners who fear they will lose business if lawmakers allow online lottery sales. The coalition includes the Massachusetts Food Association, the Boston Convenience Store Owners Association, the New England Service Station and Auto Repair Association, and the Massachusetts Package Stores Association.

“We’re heartened by this poll because it shows the public is as skeptical as retailers are about taking the lottery online,” said Joanne Mendes, executive director of the New England Convenience Store and Energy Marketers Association, which represents convenience stores. “We hope this poll goes a long way in educating lawmakers on how the public feels.”

State treasurer Deborah Goldberg, who oversees the lottery, has pushed for online sales. Last year, a bill to allow online lottery sales passed the state Senate, but failed in the House.

Proponents of online ticket sales note that lottery revenue has fallen 16 percent between 2008 and 2015, accounting for inflation. In an increasingly cashless society, fewer people are likely to have money on hand to buy lottery tickets at convenience and liquor stores, they say.

“The only way to reach the younger market is via online lottery games,” Goldberg has said. “It’s the future and we need to face it.”

Lottery officials declined to comment.

Lottery agents across the state say they rely heavily on lottery sales, and for several years have fought back online proposals.

Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, said the state’s lottery is the most successful in the country, raising almost $1 billion annually to help pay for police, firefighters, teachers and other local services.

“Abandoning the current system for a model which has yet to be proven successful anywhere in the country is simply bad policy,” he said.

The survey also found that 80 percent of respondents believe state residents already have enough access to the lottery through the more than 7,500 lottery agents at convenience stores, gas stations, package stores, and other locations. It found that 65 percent of voters believe stores would be better able to prevent minors from playing than an online lottery.

The survey was based on interviews with 550 residents, randomly selected from voter lists across the state.

Sean P. Murphy can be reached at smurphy@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @spmurphyboston.

How irrational is the selection and the COST?

Isn't this ENOUGH?  

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/05/16/voters-oppose-online-lottery-survey-finds/zMPWRIaCePc5PSvmvDpLyN/story.html?s_campaign=bostonglobe%3Asocialflow%3Atwitter

As State Senator, Michael Morrissey spoke in favor of casino gambling at several 

public forums and was wholly uninformed. now he has a 'crime problem' as 

Norfolk DA? 

Expanded FREE Drinking Hours? 

I posted the entire Boston Globe article [it had been archived] when Beacon 

Hill mentioned  expanded ALCOHOL. 

If Rosenberg leaves, this will go through. [He was unmercifully attacked 

about future changes - no one else will remember. This is what Casino Vultures do.] 

 

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Mass. officials note small drop in lottery sales near Plainridge Park Casino

By State House News Service 
on July 23, 2015

By Colin A. Young, STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

BOSTON — With about three weeks worth of data in hand, Massachusetts Lottery officials said Thursday that they have already noticed an impact on state Lottery sales from Plainridge Park Casino.

Plainridge, which offers slot machines and electronic table games, opened last month and Lottery officials have been monitoring sales at the 200 Lottery agents within a 15-minute drive of the Plainville facility, Interim Executive Director Michael Sweeney said.

"We are still seeing strong numbers at retail agents such as convenience stores and gas stations that carry our products. Where we're seeing some early decreases in that zone are in more of your restaurant, bar, lounge-type of places," Sweeney said. "In that particular region within a 15-minute radius drive, lottery sales are positive but they're not at the same level of strength as the area immediately outside of there."

Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, who chaired a meeting of the Lottery Commission on Thursday morning, said she and the Lottery team will be keeping a very close eye on the impact Plainridge has on the Lottery, particularly as other casinos come online in the next few years.

"When I'm watching television and I see Plainridge's ad, I cringe," Goldberg said. "But when the big-branded names come in and they really start to throw those ad dollars behind it, that's when we really need to pay attention."

The treasurer said that, though Plainridge is competition to the Lottery, she likes the fact that it will arm the Lottery with plentiful data it can use if it needs to illustrate a need for a larger appropriation from the Legislature.

"As someone who comes out of a competitive business, when you see your competition approaching you, you don't wait until it impacts you, you proactively own the marketplace," she said. "In terms of accessing increased capital from the Legislature, we're going to have to show them data that we are being impacted. That's why we are monitoring Plainridge very, very carefully, because it will give us initial data that we can access and then move forward."

Any decrease in Lottery revenue would mean that less money would be funneled from the agency to cities and towns across the state -- the Lottery expects to return $983.5 million to the Commonwealth from last fiscal year. Reduced sales could also harm the small businesses that serve as Lottery agents, Goldberg said.

"They are solid, middle-class business owners but they work on very tough margins and we're an important element to them," she said. "Not only in their commissions, but more importantly in the traffic flow that they get into their stores and selling their other products. We drive a lot of that business."

http://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2015/07/mass_lottery_officials_note_sm.html

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UNE 12, 2015

Treasurer: Lottery gears up to battle casinos

BY SAM DORAN AND MICHAEL NORTON
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

The Massachusetts Lottery is preparing for challenges posed by the opening of the Plainridge Park slots parlor later this month, and the coming of full-fledged casinos in the near future, according to Treasurer Deborah Goldberg.

During a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce forum this week at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel, Goldberg, who oversees the Lottery, said the agency "cannot be complacent" and must go beyond just advertising to increase profits in the face of casino gambling.

Like her predecessors, Goldberg will face pressure during her four-year term to boost Lottery profits, which lawmakers and governors over the years have relied upon to increase aid to cities and towns.

While her predecessors have only had to measure up the potential of casinos to dent Lottery receipts, the threat is real for Goldberg.

Goldberg plans to install new wireless technology to replace obsolete hardware and terminals and to meet with retailers as part of what she says will be an "innovative and savvy" approach. With respect to the new slots parlor, she said she wants to know whether people will be "spending all their money at Plainridge and only buying gas" at nearby gas stations and convenience stores that serve Lottery patrons. Goldberg said she'll be mindful of the needs of Lottery retailers.

Local communities put Lottery revenues to use, Goldberg said, pointing to this past winter as an example. Harsh weather decimated some local budgets and municipalities were able to "plug some of those holes" with unrestricted funds from the Lottery.

Fellow government employee Steve Crosby, the chairman of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, which is licensing casinos and helping to grow the new industry, is scheduled on June 23 - the day before Plainridge, in Plainville, opens - to address a chamber breakfast.

Lottery Executive Director Beth Bresnahan is preparing to leave the agency at the beginning of July, and Goldberg in late May named her deputy general counsel, Michael Sweeney, as interim director. Sweeney has worked in the Treasury since 2010 and before that worked as planning director for the city of Lawrence.

In February, just after Goldberg took office, her team lowered expectations of Lottery profits earmarked for local aid by $35 million for the remainder of this year and next year due to spending cuts made by Gov. Charlie Baker and the Legislature to close a budget shortfall.

Bresnahan at the time said the Lottery needed to cancel three instant tickets that were scheduled for release, costing the state $12.4 million in profits in fiscal 2015 and $22.5 million in fiscal 2016.

With over 70 percent of Lottery sales coming from instant tickets, officials said net profits for the budget year that ends on June 30 were expected to total $935.4 million, down from $947.8 million.

In March, making the case to lawmakers for a $10 million Lottery ad budget that she predicted would lead to higher profits, Goldberg said that at $8 million, the Massachusetts Lottery ranked last in the nation in advertising dollars as a percentage of sales.

http://www.wbjournal.com/article/20150612/NEWS01/150619977