Amendment #86 to H4714

iLottery Pilot

Mr. Cahill of Lynn moves to amend the bill by adding the following 3 sections:

“SECTION XX. Chapter 10 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 24 the following section:-

Section 24 ½. (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 with 1 or more states or other jurisdictions, hereinafter referred to as a group.

(b) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the commission may develop and oversee a pilot program to conduct the lottery online, over the internet, through the use of a mobile application or through any other means. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the commission may enter into a group agreement for the purpose of creating and maintaining multi-jurisdictional lottery games, including multi-jurisdictional lottery games to be conducted online, over the internet, through the use of a mobile application or through any other means; provided, however, that any such lottery game to be conducted pursuant to any such group agreement has been properly authorized by each state or other jurisdiction that is part of the group.

(c) Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the name, address, transaction history, account balance or other personal or identifying information of an individual who purchases lottery tickets, games or shares online, over the internet, through the use of a mobile application or through any other means shall not be deemed a public record for the purposes of section 10 of chapter 66; provided, however, that this section shall not prohibit the commission from maintaining, using or sharing such information in the course of an investigation by law enforcement or in compliance with sections 28A or 28B.

(d)The commission shall establish rules and regulations to effectuate this section that shall, at a minimum:

(i) require age verification measures to be reasonably designed to block access to and prevent sales of lottery tickets, games or shares online, over the internet, through the use of a mobile application or through any other means to persons under the age of 18;

(ii) limit sales of lottery tickets, games or shares online, over the internet, through the use of a mobile application or through any other means to transactions initiated and received, or otherwise made, within the commonwealth;

(iii) allow any player to voluntarily prohibit or otherwise exclude themselves from purchasing a lottery ticket, game or share online, over the internet, through the use of a mobile application or through any other means;

(iv) establish maximum limits for account deposits and transactions of lottery tickets, games or shares conducted online, over the internet, through the use of a mobile application or through any other means and allow players to reduce their own deposit or transaction limit at any time;

(v) clarify that money in a lottery account belongs solely to the owner of the account and may be withdrawn by the owner at any time; and

(vi) require the commission to implement promotional activities to encourage the purchase of lottery tickets, games or shares through licenses sales agents including, but not limited to, the sale of prepaid gift cards for lottery sales through licensed sales agents.

SECTION YY. Section 24 ½ of the chapter 10 of the General Laws is hereby repealed.

SECTION ZZ. Section YY shall  take effect 3 years from the date of implementation of the online lottery pilot program pursuant to section 24 ½ of the chapter 10 of the General or upon enactment of legislation permanently authorizing the commission to conduct a lottery online, whichever occurs first.