The Massachusetts Lottery has its sights set on introducing online play in the future.
In the meantime, the organization just received a big award for its current mobile app.
During the North American Association of State & Provincial Lotteries (NASPL) Conference in Kansas City last week, the Massachusetts Lottery was awarded Best Website, Microsite, or App.
The award recognizes the innovation and efficiency of the app for its players.
As Massachusetts joins the states with online lotteries in late 2025, having a high-performing platform will go a long way toward its iLottery success.
Massachusetts Lottery app evolving since 2019 debut
During Tuesday’s Massachusetts Lottery Commission meeting, Executive Director Mark William Bracken talked about the honor the state received.
He noted that being able to take home the NASPL award was meaningful, given that Massachusetts was competing against many mobile apps that already feature online play:
“I just think that award again goes to show some of the stuff we’re talking about… building out our digital platform. The fact that given even our funding sources here at the Mass State Lottery, and how over a dozen states are already up and running with their mobile apps for online lottery that what we call ‘our little app’ here in Massachusetts won best lottery app in the nation, it’s a huge achievement for our team that has worked hard and really gotten this off up and running over the last few years.”
The Massachusetts app originally launched in 2019, but has been upgraded in recent years.
Along with visual improvements, it now offers ticket scanning, second-chance opportunities, and other mobile features.
Director of Communications Christian Teja discussed the improvements to get the app to an award-winning level:
“The app, it started out as a very basic app, where it was a place to watch Keno games on the go and get results, and since then, we’ve just continued to add features. First was the ticket scanning, then mobile cashing. Most recently, we migrated these separate second-chance opportunities into this app. So, it’s one universal app for our players, making it much more easy for our players.”
Advanced mobile app will help with iLottery launch
Having a high-functioning app in place will help Massachusetts as it prepares for the start of its online lottery.
Just two months ago, Massachusetts lawmakers got an iLottery passed into law for the fiscal year 2025 budget.
The original plans called for a 16-month timeline to get online play up and running. That would have things set to launch late in 2025.
One of the first big keys will be selecting a vendor to supply online games and support.
The state’s mobile app is already well established, so the new vendor should be able to work with the lottery to provide smooth play on the platform.
Once contracts are in place, Massachusetts believes it will take 6-8 months until it can go live with iLottery.
Photo by Dana.S via Shutterstock
Graphic from the Massachusetts Lottery
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