Massachusetts doesn’t support online lottery
A new survey revealed that Massachusetts residents are opposed to expanding lottery services across the internet.
US.- The Bay State has been trying to legalise an online lottery for quite some time now, with multiple attempts pushed by local authorities, as well as the State treasurer. Nevertheless, a survey conducted by the coalition against an online lottery, Save Our Neighborhood Coalition, specified that at least 80 percent of the people who answered the questions are opposed to expanding the lottery to the online world.
Whilst the number of people surveyed wasn’t revealed, the coalition claims that 90 percent of the people are also not in favor of paying online lottery games with credit cards or electronic payments, revealed CalvinAyre. Furthermore, as reported by News 22, the people who answered the survey feel like with an online lottery in the state, children could access more easily to those services and gamble illegally, and that gambling addiction could deepen, as well as bank account information being stolen. Other concerns include an over saturation of gambling in the state, as they believe that with traditional lottery tickets an upcoming casinos are growing at a fast pace and uncontrollably.
Back in January, the State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg introduced a bill that would authorise the Massachusetts State Lottery to offer online games. Lottery profit projections fall for the next two fiscal years as it made US$989.4 million in 2016. On the other hand, Massachusetts Gaming Commission said that the legalisation of the online gambling would help the state to regulate and tax already existing wagering sites. Additionally, it would turn the state into a technology leader.
Comptroller Thomas Shack from the Lottery Commission said earlier this year that he finds it disturbing that as the most successful lottery in the nation they can’t offer an online service: “What you’re really doing is not only kneecapping it from the standpoint of not allowing it to participate in any kind of online way, but also you’re literally, as the treasurer said, handing the keys over to private industry.”
The coalition also explained that an online lottery could make approximately 7500 people and local businesses loose their jobs, as they would sell less lottery tickets in stores.
