The Maryland Legislature just passed a bill allowing lottery players in the state to make certain transactions online.
House Bill 618 lets residents buy subscriptions for lottery draw games via the Maryland Lottery’s app or website. Currently, players must print subscription forms accessed online, fill them out, and then mail them to the state lottery to purchase a subscription.
The bill passed the House in mid-March. And on Monday, it passed the Senate and is now on its way to Gov. Wes Moore for his signature.
“The current outdated and cumbersome process discourages participation, especially among younger tech-savvy audiences who expect seamless digital options,” said Del. Edith Patterson, the bill’s sponsor, during its March 27 Senate committee hearing. “As a result, we are missing an opportunity to attract new players and grow revenue for important state programs funded by lottery proceeds.”
Maryland ‘has not kept place’ with modern technology
The Maryland Lottery currently offers subscriptions for Cash4Life, Multi-Match, Powerball, and Mega Millions. Players can play their numbers for 13, 26, or 52 weeks. But if a player wants to purchase any of those options, the current mail-in process can take anywhere from 1-2 weeks to initiate a subscription, Patterson said.
“I cannot begin to think of any successful modern business operating this way,” she said. “This bill begins to address changes in consumer behavior. Consumers expect convenience, flexibility, and accessibility in their interactions with businesses and services, including government departments and agencies.
“Unfortunately, the state lottery’s current subscription process has not kept pace with these changes.”
This is not an online lottery legalization bill
This is not a legalization of an online lottery platform. The bill has specific language that stipulates exactly what it does:
For the purpose of authorizing the State Lottery and Gaming Control Agency to allow the establishment of a system or program that allows an individual to purchase a State lottery subscription plan in a certain manner.
“This legislation will not impact lottery sales at existing locations, nor does it change the existing prohibition on lottery ticket sales through the internet,” Patterson stressed. “ … This does not apply to instant lottery prizes.”
Maryland won’t be the first state without a formal online lottery platform to offer lottery subscriptions online.
New York allows its players to buy subscriptions for Mega Millions, Cash4Life, and New York Lotto online. North Dakota offers its players something called Pick & Click, where they can play their numbers for a single draw or all the way up to a full year of draws.
Other states, such as New Hampshire, offer subscription purchases in addition to a full slate of online lottery games, including instant games.
“These states have reported positive outcomes, including increased participation and revenue growth while providing security measures to ensure consumer protection, and compliance with gaming regulations,” Patterson said.
Dustin Gouker, US gambling consultant and author of The Closing Line newsletter, told Comped the evolution toward online sales of any kind with modern lotteries feels inevitable.
“As time goes on we will see lottery sales continue to expand online, because it’s clearly additive to total sales,” Gouker said. “Reticence to move more gambling online and pushback from retail sellers — convenience stores — will be headwinds.”
In an effort to help these convenience stories and other retailers, North Dakota has players using Pick & Click to buy lottery tickets choose a retailer to receive the 5% commission for their purchase.
In a similar effort, HB618 stipulates players can choose to buy online lottery subscriptions with a voucher purchased at a retailer. In those cases, the retailer who sold the voucher receives the purchase commission. They would also receive the commission for the first renewal and any subsequent renewals over the next 24 months.
$95,000 boost to the general fund
The fiscal and policy report attached to HB618 didn’t specify any worries regarding impacts to retail lottery vendors.
The report noted there would be no extra costs associated with setting up online purchases for subscriptions. In terms of revenue, it projected increases to the lottery’s general fund contributions would start in Fiscal Year 2026, but “likely minimally.”
If online availability adds 500 more subscriptions in a year, for example, the report said that would increase general fund contributions by about $95,000.
The report said there were 6,000 active subscriptions as of December 2024, and that these subscriptions “do not currently represent a significant source of revenue for the State Lottery.”
“While there could be an influx of additional subscribers should online subscriptions be allowed,” the report continued, “it is not likely to significantly increase the overall lottery player base or State revenues.”
Only new online lottery movement in 2025?
Jennifer Beskid, executive director of the Maryland State Lottery & Gaming Control Agency, emphasized the need to modernize the lottery during the March 27 hearing.
“She’s done a wonderful job,” Beskid told committee members, referring to Patterson’s testimony, “especially the language about bringing it from the 19th century to possibly the 21st century.”
Most online lottery bills have stalled out so far this legislative session. The only currently active bill is for online gambling in New York, where online lottery is part of Sen. Joseph Addabbo’s latest iGaming bill — which isn’t expected to get much movement.
(Of course, Tennessee launched an online platform this year when the lottery reinterpreted state code in a way that allowed it to offer Powerball purchases via its Anytime Powerball app.)
But, as of now, with the Maryland Senate passing HB618, it may be the only state with legislative online lottery movement in 2025.
