With iLottery in works, Massachusetts Treasurer Goldberg opposes iGaming

BOSTON (SHNS) – It’s a sure bet Treasurer Deb Goldberg would not welcome internet gaming to Massachusetts.

Goldberg chairs the state Lottery Commission, which has long sought and now secured the ability to offer products online as an iLottery. Executive Director Mark William Bracken confirmed Tuesday the state is still on track to launch an iLottery next summer. Online lottery sales were originally expected to launch in late 2025.

“I don’t want to tell you what iLotteries did during Covid – Michigan, New Hampshire – while we had nobody being able to leave their house. And can you imagine the amount that we would have generated then,” Goldberg said during a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce event Tuesday morning, suggesting the state could have generated iLottery profits during the pandemic. “So, I would not like to see iGaming come.”

While the state is preparing to roll out its iLottery, lawmakers are weighing  proposals to create a structure for regulating the internet gaming or “iGaming” market in Massachusetts. The bill (H 4431) was filed in January by Rep. David Muradian Jr. Supporters see it as a path to more gaming revenue. The bill has made little progress, while also stirring a lot of debate – even sitting on the “most popular bills” list on the Legislature’s website.

Other states, including Connecticut and Rhode Island, have already established iGaming.

As outlined in the enabling law, iLottery profits would go to early childhood education grants, Bracken said. IGaming operators would be able to profit from the market, but would also deliver a 15% state tax on their gross revenue from internet gaming, under Muradian’s proposal.

Goldberg and Lottery officials have warned for years that the roughly $1 billion that the Lottery produces for local aid each year would be in jeopardy unless lawmakers allowed the agency to sell its products on the internet, citing competition from casinos, daily fantasy sports and now sports betting and prediction markets.

The Lottery produced $1.067 billion in net profit during fiscal 2025, Goldberg announced in September. Revenues totaled $5.963 billion for the year, slightly lower than the $6.168 billion record set in 2024.

Goldberg said Tuesday the iLottery is expected to generate about $70 million in profits during its first year of operations. And profits are expected to increase each year, reaching $360 million after ten years.

But iGaming revenues projections aren’t so clear.

Rebecca London, a senior government affairs manager at DraftKings, has projected Muradian’s bill could generate $170 million to $200 million in annual revenue for the state. Mark Stewart, with the National Association Against iGaming, said studies project a $100 million annual loss in gaming taxes as well as $62 million loss in non-gaming taxes because of lost foot traffic to casinos. Also, social costs like bankruptcies, homelessness and effects on child services and the criminal justice system, come out to $260 million each year.

“…The bottom line is yeah, they’ll pay tax dollars, great, but we go entirely back to the communities, and we go back to important, critical shortages, like the availability of child care, which directly impacts businesses, because we need people to fill jobs,” Goldberg said.

Goldberg was candid about how iGaming would compete with the iLottery. The games offered are very similar, but she said iGaming operators will have more ability to advertise to users and offer incentives for playing.

“We won’t be able to compete in terms of advertising,” Goldberg said. “So I, right now, am firmly against iGaming. They may not like me for that, but I gotta think about the people of Massachusetts, and that’s my top priority.”

IGaming would mark another new gambling frontier and it’s unclear whether the state will resist it since it has already used gaming revenues to grow the state revenue base and raise spending without increasing taxes.

Supporters of iGaming highlight the consumer protections it offers for residents already participating in internet gambling on illegal sites. Opponents have raised concerns about iGaming cannibalizing the state’s casinos and its potential effects on gambling addiction.

When asked whether she regrets Massachusetts legalizing sports betting – like Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said a few weeks ago – Gov. Maura Healey said Tuesday that she’s “long been concerned” about the market’s effect on young bettors, particularly those betting on college sports.

“So I think it’s something that bears looking at and making sure that in the first instance, everything is being done on campuses and elsewhere to educate and to prevent sports betting addiction. And I also think that whatever leagues and others can do to crack down on this is really important,” Healey said. “But I think it is something for policymakers to take a look at, just generally across the country.”

She added, the last thing she wants is “to see is young people addicted.”

“And so, what’s come out, and the data is concerning,” Healey said. “There are probably ways to deal with that. I don’t know the answers, but I think it is something that policymakers across the country should be looking at in the in the wake of data that’s come out.”

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