加载中…程阳：美国马萨诸塞州全力推进互联网彩票
(2012-12-15 00:35:30)
标签：
程阳彩票美国马萨诸塞州互联网彩票网彩财经 |
分类： 彩票视界 |
程阳：美国马萨诸塞州全力推进互联网彩票
Mass. Treasurer: State's lotto could move online
December 14, 2012, 8:00 am
(NECN) - Soon you might be able to buy lottery tickets without leaving the house. Massachusetts Treasurer Steve Grossman plans to ask Bay State lawmakers to allow the lottery to operate online gambling.
He joins us from our Suffolk University studio downtown.
Currently, under Massachusetts state law, consumers can only buy lottery tickets in person and only with cash. But Grossman plans to ask the legislature to remove those restrictions. Ultimately, this is about more than just selling lottery tickets online. If the legislature agrees, Grossman says the lottery could pilot a whole range of online games, like fantasy football or online poker.
Why is this a good idea?
“Don’t forget, this all was kicked off last December by the Justice Department which said, from now on, lotteries can offer almost any product, other than sports betting, to in-state adults, using credit cards,” says Grossman. “We felt that after that ruling, we had to move and move quickly to study this whole issue of online gaming. The lottery as you know is almost a $5 billion business. It generated almost a billion dollars in profit last year. It’s the lifeblood of every city and town for local aid for senior center, for firefighters, for quality of life. So if the threat of the internet is imminent, to lotteries all over the country, including our own, the most successful lottery in the country, we felt we had to study it and that’s exactly what we’re doing. So we put together a task force.”
The number one concern is protecting the 7,400 retailers that have been the backbone of the lottery for 40 years.
Grossman says they are very sensitive to stores and they’ve made it clear they will do nothing to undermine the profitability and the health of those small retailers, all over the country, some that are two or three generations old.
“We’re going to protect those retailers. That’s number one requirement of anything we do.”
Grossman says the second concern is problem gaming, problem gambling, excessive gaming and gambling addiction.
The Treasurer says both issues will be studied very carefully and nothing will be done too quickly.
When might this come into play?
They are going to the legislature early next year.
On another note, Grossman is carefully considering a run for governor in 2014.
“I look forward to 2014. Whatever I do, I look forward to
being on the ballot. Hopefully to continue to serve the people of
this Commonwealth,” Grossman says. “That’s up to them, not up to
me.”
Tags: lottery, gubernatorial candidate, Steve Grossman, massachusetts treasuerer, internet gambling
Mass. Treasurer pushing for Internet lottery sales
Dec 12, 2012, 10:14 am
BOSTON, Mass. — Massachusetts State Treasurer Steven Grossman is gearing up to ask state lawmakers for permission to create and test what he hopes will be a first wave of Internet lottery games in Massachusetts.
Grossman said Tuesday that he plans to ask the Legislature to eliminate existing barriers in state law that prevent the lottery from selling tickets and other games online or accepting credit cards as a form of payment.
Grossman said the kinds of lottery items for sale on the Internet could include familiar games like Mega Millions, Powerball and instant tickets.
But Lottery officials are also looking at possibly developing so-called "social gaming" ventures like fantasy sports leagues. Other games such as online poker might not be feasible at first.
Grossman said the Lottery needs to test different games to decide which might produce the most revenue. He said the threat of Internet gambling to existing state lotteries is "imminent."
"Internet gaming is going to be a fact of life and is going to have an impact on lotteries all over the country in the relatively near future," he said. "We want to move as quickly as we can, as appropriately as we can."
Grossman, who as treasurer oversees the lottery, said a special task force he set up to explore the issue is preparing to release its findings.
Among those recommendations is that any plan to expand the lottery online must also protect the 7,400 convenience stores, liquor stores and other stores that sell physical lottery tickets. Grossman called the lottery agents the backbone of the system.
The lottery is expected to collect net profits of about $927 million in the current year. The money is returned to cities and towns in the form of local aid.
In explaining his push for online lottery games, Grossman pointed to a U.S. Justice Department ruling last December that reversed its previous stance barring states from conducting online gambling.
The department's ruling goes far beyond tickets, however, opening the door to states offering virtually any form of gambling, except on sports. Grossman said the new ruling allows the Massachusetts Lottery to market online to in-state adults with credit cards.
Grossman said he didn't have an estimate about when the Lottery might start testing online games, although nothing can happen until state lawmakers pass legislation giving him the green light. The Legislature is set to come back into formal session in January for a new two-year term.
"We want to test it out and we want to test it out very, very carefully," Grossman said. "We want to gather more data."
喜欢
0
赠金笔