Massachusetts Led the Nation in Gambling on This Game

Massachusetts residents love to gamble.

According to Masslottery.com, the Commonwealth's lottery broke records in 2019 hitting an all-time $5.509 billion in revenue, yielding a net profit of $1.104 billion. Between nine games (The Numbers Game, Keno, Jackpot Poker, All or Nothing, Mass Cash, Megabucks Doubler, Lucky for Life, Mega Millions, Powerball) and countless ever-changing scratch tickets, the Bay State's lottery is thriving.

As a whole, the United States spent $81.6 billion in state lotto tickets in 2019 across the 45 states where games are available, plus Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Utah, and Nevada do not have state lotteries.

Residents in the Bay State spent a whopping $951.92 per adult, which is more than any other state in the U.S. That's just over $600 more than the national average. Massachusetts does however have a higher-than-average return percentage with the average Massachusetts adult winning $701.50 annually.

Massachusetts Spends More Gambling on This Than Any Other State

Massachusetts loves to spend money on gambling, but there is one game that Bay State out spends every other, and that game in Keno. That's right, 14 other states have the option to play the Keno game, yet Massachusetts boasts the highest sales in the country.

In 2025 alone, Massachusetts Keno sales set a record, reaching $1.3 billion, which is an increase of almost 3% from the prior year. The chance, draw-style game runs every three minutes and allows players to choose how many numbers they want to bet on and how much they want to bet, with payouts dependent on the amount bet and number of matches.

The game sales brings in significantly more than the $730 million in sales from all other lottery draw games combined in the state, including Powerball and Mega Millions.

What States Can You Gamble on Keno In?

District of Columbia
Georgia
Kansas
Kentucky
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Missouri
Nebraska
North Carolina
Ohio
Rhode Island
Tennessee
Washington

LOOK: Here are the 50 best beach towns in America

Every beach town has its share of pluses and minuses, which got us thinking about what makes a beach town the best one to live in. To find out, Stacker consulted data from WalletHub, released June 17, 2020, that compares U.S. beach towns. Ratings are based on six categories: affordability, weather, safety, economy, education and health, and quality of life. The cities ranged in population from 10,000 to 150,000, but they had to have at least one local beach listed on TripAdvisor. Read the full methodology here. From those rankings, we selected the top 50. Readers who live in California and Florida will be unsurprised to learn that many of towns featured here are in one of those two states.

Keep reading to see if your favorite beach town made the cut.

Gallery Credit: Keri Wiginton

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