Lottery hits the jackpot with new scratch ticket game
By Globe Staff
The Massachusetts State Lottery, which was worried last year about flagging sales, has hit the jackpot with a new scratch ticket game.
Lottery officials say they've sold $500 million worth of tickets for the Billion Dollar Blockbuster game in less than six months. That means that 25 million of the $20 tickets have been sold.
Not bad considering that only about 6 million people live in the state.
Lottery Executive Director Mark Cavanagh said in a statement that officials knew players would enjoy the game. and he pointed out that the money raised by the lottery is sent back to the state's cities and towns.
The game features 130 instant prizes of $1 million and 10 instant prizes of $10 million. The grand prize: $1 million a year for life.
The Lottery, which is one of the most successful in the country, saw an unusual sales decline --- about 1.4 percent -- in fiscal 2007.
With the help of the new game, the Lottery is on a record sales pace for fiscal 2008, more than 6 percent ahead of the previous year so far, Lottery spokesman Dan Rosenfeld said this morning.
