Lottery sales brisk ahead of big drawing

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By Colin A. Young

State House News Service

BOSTON -- Massachusetts Lottery terminals have been humming since Saturday when a $1 billion Mega Millions jackpot exploded into a $1.6 billion jackpot and state Lottery officials said they expect the possible jackpot to grow higher before Tuesday night's drawing.

"I have a feeling that it will," Treasurer Deborah Goldberg said.

Massachusetts Lottery Executive Director Michael Sweeney said he would be on a call with other state lottery directors late Tuesday morning and that what is already a world record sum for any lottery jackpot game might grow higher after that call.

Sweeney said Lottery sales have been "extremely robust, particularly over the last 10 days or two weeks."

On Saturday, when Tuesday night's $1.6 billion jackpot was announced, the Mass. Lottery processed more than 11 million transactions.

Leading up to Friday's Mega Millions drawing, for which there was no winner, the state Lottery sold more than $16 million worth of $2 Mega Millions tickets.

The Lottery's record for a single drawing was $32.97 million in sales for the Jan. 13, 2016 Powerball drawing that topped $1 billion, Sweeney said.

The influx of sales driven by the Mega Millions record jackpot -- and Wednesday's $620 million Powerball jackpot -- is already helping the Massachusetts Lottery. Through the first three months of fiscal year 2019, the Lottery's profits were lagging behind the previous fiscal year by $12.

2 million, Sweeney reported to the Lottery Commission on Tuesday.

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