Bill
S 193
Adds digital pull tab tickets to MA charitable fundraising, enabling online instant-win sales alongside physical tickets; 10% of resale value goes to the state lottery commission.
Status: Introduced in Senate (filed 1/17/2025), read twice and referred to committee; committee referrals and hearing scheduled (see Procedural Notes).
Important note on source materials
- The bill metadata supplied includes a different short title (relating to cybersecurity and ransom payments) and an inconsistent list of sponsors. The actual bill text filed as Senate No. 193 amends Massachusetts General Laws, chapter 10, section 37, and concerns charitable fundraising by adding “digital pull tab tickets.” This summary reflects the bill text itself (modernizing charitable fundraising), and flags the discrepancy between the title/metadata and the enacted text.
Purpose and intent
- To update Massachusetts law governing charitable organizations’ fundraising by expressly authorizing and regulating “digital pull tab tickets” alongside existing physical pull-tab and lottery ticket fundraising mechanisms.
Key provisions
- Amends Section 37 of Chapter 10 (Mass. Gen. Laws) to insert “digital pull tab tickets” in multiple places where the statute currently refers to lottery tickets or pull-tab shares. Specific textual changes:
- Adds “, or digital pull tab tickets” after references to “shares” in the first sentence of the first paragraph.
- Adds parallel language after references to “reselling such tickets” and “said lottery tickets” (first paragraph).
- Adds authority language allowing the sale of digital pull tab tickets where the statute already authorizes lottery tickets (second paragraph).
- Adds a fiscal provision: “provided further, 10 per cent of the resale value of digital pull tab tickets shall revert to the commission.”
- Makes conforming insertions elsewhere in the section (e.g., “sales of lottery tickets or digital pull tab tickets”).
Who would be affected
- Charitable organizations that use pull-tab or similar instant-win ticket sales for fundraising (would be able to offer digital pull-tab products).
- The state lottery/commission (gain of 10% of resale value from digital pull tab tickets; will likely require oversight, rules, and technical integration).
- Vendors, platform operators, and resale marketplaces involved in digital pull-tab distribution/resale.
- Donors/consumers purchasing digital pull-tab tickets (subject to any new consumer protections or rules).
Potential impacts and implementation issues
- Modernizes fundraising options for charities by enabling digital/online instant-game ticketing.
- Generates a new revenue stream for the state commission (10% of resale value) — fiscal magnitude unspecified and dependent on uptake.
- Will likely require administrative rulemaking by the commission to define “digital pull tab tickets,” set licensing/resale rules, consumer protections, age verification, responsible gambling safeguards, and technical standards.
- May raise questions about taxation, reporting, and oversight of secondary resale markets for digital tickets.
- Enforcement and compliance costs for charities and vendors are possible; net benefit depends on adoption and state regulation.
Procedural / timeline notes
- Filed in mid-January 2025 (Senate Docket No. 2374 / Senate No. 193).
- Read twice and referred to committees (Judiciary; later Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure). A hearing was scheduled for 06/23/2025.
- The provided record also lists additional and inconsistent committee referrals and sponsor information; readers should consult the official Massachusetts legislative website for the current, authoritative status and any later amendments.
Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.
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