Created on 27 September 1971 following the legalisation of gambling by the Massachusetts General Court, the Mass Lottery introduced the first ever instant lottery tickets in May 1974, followed by the first US Lotto game in 1978, the latter of which saw players pick six numbers from 49.

The Lottery offers the multi-state Mega Millions and Powerball games, which were introduced into the state in September 1996 and January 2010 respectively, as well as in-house games such as The Numbers Game, Keno, The Daily Race Game, Mass Cash, Megabucks Doubler and Lucky For Life.

Numerous big-money prizes have been won by tickets purchased in the state, including $363m and $197m Big Game jackpots – the precursor to the Mega Millions draw – and a $249m jackpot in the Mega Millions draw itself. The Massachusetts Lottery have also given a huge amount of money to good causes, with nearly $900m donated in 2011 to projects in the state.