Maine Lottery Director Michael Boardman Takes Lead On Lucky For Life

Image showing lottery gaming with lotto tickets along with the Lucky for Life logo for a story about Maine Lottery Director Michael Boardman taking over as the leader for the draw game for the next year.

The Lucky for Life nationwide game now has a new leader at the helm.

Maine Lottery Director Michael Boardman was named Lead Director for the game starting July 1.

Boardman was a unanimous decision to take on the role.

One of the big focuses he will have in the coming year is the proposed combination of multistate lottery draw games, Lucky for Life and Cash4Life.

Boardman active in expanding sales, innovation for Maine Lottery

Boardman has over 30 years of experience in the lottery industry. He worked for Scientific Games and GTECH before joining the Maine Lottery in 2000.

Boardman had a quick ascension to the Director of Operations in Maine before moving to the director role.

On top of his positions in Maine, Boardman serves on the Board of Directors for the National Association of State and Provincial Lotteries (NASPL) and Multi-State Lottery Association.

He has been actively involved in the Lucky for Life game since it first launched in 2012 in the New England area.

Currently, Lucky for Life is played in 23 different states. It features a top prize of $365,000 a year for life and has nightly drawings.

The Maine Lottery is coming off a record year of sales in FY24. It posted $430.2 million in purchases, nearly 5% higher than in FY23 ($410.3 million).

In FY25, the Maine Lottery is celebrating its 50th anniversary. Boardman has the state focused on using the milestone to help drive up sales for the year.

In addition, Boardman is pushing the Maine mobile lottery app to propel sales. He is also trying to encourage lawmakers to strongly consider iLottery in the state.

Lucky for Life to merge with Cash4Life

During La Fleur’s 2024 Raleigh Conference, it was revealed that the two “for life” games would be combined into one in the future.

Not many details were provided, but Lucky for Life and Cash4Life will be merged into a singular draw game. The target date provided at the conference was the spring of 2026.

Cash4Life doesn’t have the same reach as Lucky for Life. Cash4Life is available in just 10 states compared to the 23 of its counterpart.

This nightly draw game has a top prize of $1,000 a day for life.

The prize structure and odds for the upcoming merged game are unclear. With just under two years remaining for the target launch, more details should emerge throughout the next fiscal year.

 

Photo by Mehaniq via Shutterstock
Graphic from Lucky for Life

About the Author

Drew Ellis

Drew Ellis

Lead Writer
A member of Catena Media since 2020, Drew Ellis is the Lead Writer at PlayiLottery, where he handles coverage of the online lottery industry in the US. He previously spearheaded news content at PlayMichigan, where he covered one of the most prominent online lottery industries in the US — among the many other aspects of Michigan's sprawling iGaming market. You can email him at [email protected].
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