page_title: Gambling in Massachusetts
section_title: Lottery
hierarchical_section_title: Gambling in Massachusetts / Lottery
caption_attribution_description: English: A ticket from the first public lottery in Massachusetts
context_page_description: Legal forms of gambling in the U.S. state of Massachusetts include casinos, parimutuel wagering on horse racing, the Massachusetts Lottery, and charitable gaming. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission regulates commercial operations under state jurisdiction.
context_section_description: The Massachusetts Lottery offers draw games and scratchcards. The Lottery also offers pull tabs for sale at bars.
  Private lotteries were common in early colonial history, but as public attitudes turned against them, Massachusetts banned all lotteries in 1719. The province's first public lottery was authorized in 1745, to pay for expenses related to King George's War. At least fifteen lotteries were authorized from 1749 to 1761, until the Lords of Trade expressed their disapproval of the practice, effectively banning public lotteries in Massachusetts until the American Revolution, when lotteries again became frequent, until a new ban was enacted in 1833. The modern Lottery was created in 1971 and held its first drawings the following year.
caption: A ticket from the first public lottery in Massachusetts, authorized in 1745
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