Tennessee to Add Mega Millions

Posted on November 3rd, 2009

It’s no secret to lottery players that multi state lotteries like Powerball and Mega Millions are able to offer players significantly higher jackpots than most state lotteries. Many states are now offering both multi state lotteries in an attempt to boost revenues. The Tennessee Education Lottery Board of Directors has just approved the addition of the Mega Millions lottery game and it is expected that the new lottery will increase lottery revenues in Tennessee by $10 to $15 million dollars a year. Rebecca Hargrove, President and CEO of the Tennessee Lottery stated, “Bringing Mega Millions into our portfolio of games is a win for both players and education. It’s clear that large jackpots generate excitement in Tennessee. Adding Mega Millions will mean more sales and additional dollars for the education programs we fund.”

Until recently states could only offer one of the mega jackpot games but because of a decision reached during a meeting of all U.S. lottery jurisdictions states can now offer both Powerball and Mega Millions. Tennessee is expected to offer the Mega Millions game in early 2010. The Mega Millions lottery is currently played in 12 states and Powerball is played 31 states and the District of Columbia and the US Virgin Islands. The combined population of the states offering Powerball and Mega Millions is about 285 million.

The Tennessee Education Lottery has been a success story and revenues are about $5 million dollars a week. Proceeds from lottery ticket sales fund educational programs including college scholarships, pre-kindergarten and after-school programs. The Tennessee Education Lottery began selling lottery tickets in 2004 and since then has raised about $1.5 billion for educational programs and has paid out nearly $3.4 billion in prizes and $375 million in lottery retailer commissions. Lottery director Hargrove said, “It’s clear that a large percentage of our players support a mega-jackpot game, and I’m optimistic about the success of adding another such game.”

States strapped with massive budget deficits may want to consider allowing players to buy online lottery tickets. The sale of online lottery tickets has been wildly popular in Europe and European lotteries reported a significant increase in sales after allowing the sale of online lottery tickets. At the present most states in the US do not allow players to purchase lottery tickets online. Several states have indicated that they may allow online ticket sales in the near future. By adding both mega jackpot multi state lotteries and allowing the purchase of online lottery tickets states could easily increase sales.