CONCORD, NH – The New Hampshire Lottery Commission has taken a step toward adding Mega Millions to its roster of games.
The commission voted 3-0 today to proceed with adding the multi-state lottery game to its sales lineup. Until recently, lottery states were allowed sell Powerball or Mega Millions, but not both. Officials hope to have the new game online in NH by January 31, 2010.
"We think the addition of Mega Millions is going to be a game that generates a lot of interest in NH," said Commission chairman Richard Campbell. "When the jackpot to a lottery game gets into the hundreds of millions of dollars, we see a sales lift in all of our ticket sales. Having Mega Millions to complement NH Powerball will give players that many more chances at some really big prizes."
Recently, the Mega Millions consortium and Multi-State Lottery Association (MUSL) reached an agreement in principal to begin the process to cross-sell Mega Millions and Powerball in all 45 US lottery jurisdictions. Mega Millions is currently played in 12 states with a population of 160 million. Powerball is currently available from 33 jurisdictions (31 states plus the District of Columbia and Virgin Islands) with 125 million in population. The largest advertised Powerball jackpot ever was $365 million in 2006. The largest Mega Million jackpot was $370 million in March 2007.
The choice to cross-sell Powerball and Mega Millions has been left to the individual states. So far Idaho, Texas, Iowa, Tennessee, Arkansas, North Carolina, and South Carolina have approved the idea.
"There are even more enhancements to the NH Lottery that are being planned. We’ve always been an innovator in the lottery industry and we expect to demonstrate that in 2010," said Campbell.
Since 1964, the New Hampshire Lottery has had a significant financial impact on the state. For the past 45 years, the New Hampshire Lottery has recorded $4 billion in lottery sales and other earnings, with $2.5 billion being paid in prizes and other cost of sales. Net proceeds to education to date total more than $1.4 billion.
The New Hampshire Lottery Commission, located at 14 Integra Drive in Concord, currently manages all lottery operations in the state, including Instant games, New Hampshire POWERBALL®, Tri-State Megabucks®, Tri-State Weekly Grand®, Hot Lotto Sizzler®, and Tri-State Pick3/Pick4 Daily Numbers® games.