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Treasurer Deb Goldberg testifies at the fiscal 2027 consensus revenue hearing in Gardner Auditorium on Dec. 16, 2025.
Allison Kuznitz | SHNS
The Massachusetts Lottery is poised to generate more than $1 billion in net profits for the sixth consecutive fiscal year, and the launch of iLottery next summer will modestly add to an annual haul that is beginning to stagnate.
In fiscal year 2025, the Lottery brought in $5.96 billion in revenues, translating into $1.067 billion in net profits deployed to cities and towns, Treasurer Deb Goldberg told the state's top budget writers Tuesday.
Fiscal 2025 marked five straight years of net profits in excess of $1 billion. The Lottery paid out more than $4.4 billion in prizes, including a "record-setting prize percentage payout" of 74%, Goldberg said.
Goldberg expressed optimism the Lottery remains on track to turn a net profit of $1.050 billion for fiscal 2026, even as she pointed to "economic headwinds and continuing impacts from the competitive marketplace."
"Lotteries across the country are facing increasing unpredictability of multi-state game sales driven by large jackpots," Goldberg said at the fiscal 2027 revenue forecast hearing, according to remarks shared by her office. "In Fiscal Year 2025, sales of jackpot driven games Powerball and Mega Millions experienced a combined $159 million decrease."
Goldberg added that fiscal 2026 is "off to a more promising start," as she noted two Powerball jackpot runs that reached the $1 billion mark.
Goldberg said the Lottery is projected to have a net profit of $1.025 billion in fiscal 2027, which will mark the first year of revenue stemming from the start of iLottery. The iLottery funding stream will support child care initiatives.
Online offerings are slated to go live in the summer of 2026, with iLottery estimated to bring in $70 million in net profit in the first year of operation. Net profit is expected to climb to $180 million for the third year of iLottery, $230 million in the fifth year and nearly $360 million a decade in.
With casinos and then sports wagering and now an iLottery, state officials are growing more reliant on gambling and gaming revenue to support public spending.
House Ways and Means Chair Aaron Michlewitz said the branch is "very excited that iLottery will be getting fully implemented." Administration and Finance Secretary Matt Gorzkowicz told Goldberg he looks forward to briefings about iLottery and "potential revenue impacts."
Goldberg also used her testimony to tout her office's Unclaimed Property Division, which receives abandoned property from banks and holding companies after they've been unable to reach owners for three years. The property can include bank accounts, uncashed checks, stocks or dividends, insurance policies and the contents of safety deposit boxes, according to the division's website.
The treasurer in September returned a Purple Heart medal to the family of a World War I veteran. The medal, stored in a safe deposit box, came into state custody with the Unclaimed Property Division decades ago.
The division posted a "record-breaking" fiscal 2025 when it came to reuniting people with their money, Goldberg said. More than $196 million in cash and nearly $18 million in securities were returned across 131,000 claims.
In fiscal 2024, the division returned over $145 million in cash and $16 million in securities on 131,000 claims, Goldberg said last year.
The state website called FindMassmoney.gov garnered more than 24 million page views in fiscal 2025, Goldberg said. Since installing a tool two years ago that allows for instant translation into 10 languages, the website has been translated more than 90,000 times.
Goldberg said the division has also been working on a two-year project that's spurring "historic revenue reversions to the general fund" through a series of stock liquidations.
The division hadn't liquidated stock in about four years, which led to the larger infusion back to the state, Assistant Treasurer Mark Bracken told the News Service. The stock belongs to individuals with a Massachusetts address who hadn't touched their property in over three years, which typically happens when someone passed away and their family or estate is unaware of the investment. Once the stock is liquidated, people can still reclaim their property at the liquidation value.
"Unclaimed Property was able to revert over $331 million to the commonwealth in fiscal year 2025," Goldberg said. "For the current fiscal year 2026, the division is still on track to meet its reversion estimate of $368 million."
The division will return to "standard operations" in fiscal 2027 and is expected to revert $193.5 million to state coffers, the treasurer said. Bracken said the division will "probably not" liquidate stock in fiscal 2027.
Alison Kuznitz is a reporter for State House News Service and State Affairs Pro Massachusetts.
