Session Laws

Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to immediately provide for the participation of the commonwealth in a multi-jurisdictional lottery game, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public convenience.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

SECTION 1. Chapter 10 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out section 22, as appearing in the 1994 Official Edition, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 22. The provisions of this section and sections twenty-three to thirty-five, inclusive, sections thirty-seven to forty, inclusive, and sections fifty-six to fifty-eight, inclusive, shall be known and may be cited as the "state lottery law."

SECTION 2. Said chapter 10 is hereby further amended by inserting after section 24 the following section:-

Section 24A. (a) For the purposes of this section, "group agreement" shall mean any lottery activity in which the commission participates pursuant to a written agreement between the commission, on behalf of the commonwealth, and any state, territory, country or other sovereignty. The commission is hereby authorized to enter into agreements with one or more states or other jurisdictions, hereinafter referred to as the group, for the purpose of creating and maintaining a multi-jurisdictional lottery game; provided, however, that the commission shall operate, participate in and maintain only one such multi-jurisdictional lottery game at any time; provided, further, that such group agreement shall not include the state lottery games created pursuant to section twenty-four; provided, further, that nothing in this section and nothing in such group agreement shall authorize the commission to make expenditures that are not consistent with restrictions on expenditures by the commission provided in any other general or special law. The group shall determine the types of lotteries to be conducted, the prices of tickets or shares, the manner of selecting the winning tickets or shares, the manner of payment of prizes to the holders of winning tickets or shares and the frequency of the drawings or selection of winning tickets or shares. The commission may establish, and from time to time revise, such rules and regulations as it deems necessary or desirable to carry out the group agreement and shall file the same with the office of the state secretary.

(b) The share of the revenues derived from the sale of multi-jurisdictional tickets or shares accruing to the commonwealth shall be apportioned in accordance with the provisions of section fifty-seven in an amount equal to the difference between the amount of revenue received in the fiscal year beginning on July first, nineteen hundred and ninety-five and the amount of revenue received or to be received from arts lottery tickets or shares in each succeeding fiscal year; provided, however, that in no event shall the State Arts Lottery Fund, established pursuant to said section fifty-seven, receive any revenues from the sale of multi-jurisdictional tickets or shares if revenues derived from arts lottery tickets or shares exceed the amount of revenue generated in the fiscal year beginning on July first, nineteen hundred and ninety-five. The balance of the revenues derived from the sale of multi-jurisdictional tickets or shares shall be apportioned in accordance with the provisions of section twenty-five.

(c) The commission is hereby authorized to pool and share all or a portion of revenues designated as prize money with the members of the group in accordance with the terms of the group agreement for the purpose of distributing such revenue to holders of winning tickets or shares; provided, however, that the commission may, pursuant to the terms of such group agreement, withhold up to two percent of the prize pool revenue as a reserve fund to be used for the purposes set forth in the group agreement.

(d) The commission is hereby authorized to expend appropriated funds on behalf of the commonwealth to the group, a designee of the group and contracted vendors of the group for its share of the costs associated with the start-up and ongoing administrative costs in accordance with the terms of the group agreement.

(e) In the fiscal year beginning on July first, nineteen hundred and ninety-seven and in every fiscal year thereafter, one-half of one percent of all net revenue resulting from the establishment of a multi-jurisdictional lottery game shall be allocated by the commission to the department of public health for the operation of a compulsive gambling treatment program.

(f) The commission shall print, in a prominent location on each betting slip for the multi-jurisdictional lottery, the overall odds of winning a prize and the following statement: "IF YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH GAMBLING, HELP IS AVAILABLE........CALL 1-800-426-1234." The commission shall further require all sales agents for said multi-jurisdictional lottery to post said statement at the point of sale in a manner prescribed and supplied by the commission.

(g) All of the provisions of the state lottery law and rules and regulations promulgated thereunder shall apply to this section except such provisions that may be directly contrary to the provisions of this section.

SECTION 3. Subsection (c) of section 27A of said chapter 10, as appearing in section 3 of chapter 94 of the acts of 1996, is hereby amended by adding the following paragraph:-

A municipality which would otherwise be ineligible to receive Keno growth revenues pursuant to this subsection may apply to the chairman of the commission to receive an exemption from the exclusion of receipt of such Keno growth revenues. Said chairman, upon application of a municipality and a majority vote of the commission, shall grant or deny the application for said exemption only after a public hearing. In the consideration of approving or denying said exemption for a municipality, the chairman and the commission shall consider all mitigating circumstances by which a community is ineligible to receive Keno growth revenues pursuant to this subsection including, but not limited to, the absence of petitioners seeking Keno licenses and the reasons therefor, the closure of a business which is a municipality's sole Keno licensee, the voluntary termination and surrender of a Keno license by a licensee, the suspension or revocation and subsequent surrender, for just cause, of a license of a municipality's sole Keno licensee, the denial of an application for a Keno license by said chairman or his designee when such applicant is the sole potential licensee in a municipality, the population of a municipality or other reasons which said chairman and said commission may deem appropriate pursuant to rules and regulations. The chairman of said commission shall, by November first, nineteen hundred and ninety-six, promulgate rules and regulations to implement the provisions of the exemption application process.