Massachusetts Lottery Sets a New Sales Record, Fueled by $50 Scratch Ticket

BOSTON, Massachusetts (March 29, 2023) – A scratch ticket slump in Massachusetts appears to have turned around, thanks in part to a new $50 game.

Last fall the interim executive director of the Massachusetts Lottery, Mark William Bracken, said he was “very concerned” about shrinking sales for games other than Mega Millions and Powerball. But a report Bracken presented Tuesday to the Lottery Commission shows improvement.

Scratch ticket sales were up $82.3 million in February, which is when the state introduced its first $50 ticket called “Billion Dollar Extravaganza.” The game features three top prizes of $25 million, none of which have been claimed yet.

Bracken’s report notes that in the game’s fifth week in existence, it collected over $35 million in sales. That contributed to an all-time single-week record for the Lottery of nearly $99 million in total instant game sales. There have been six-straight weeks of instant ticket sales over $90 million; the Lottery had only seen sales surpass $90 million in a week three times before.

So far, the $50 game has raked in north of $216 million while paying out $170 million in prizes, including two $1 million winners.