US May Have National Lottery in 2010 The United States may be the next country to establish a national lottery. At present the United States has two major multi state lotteries, Mega Millions and Powerball. In the not so recent past states had to decide which multi state lottery they would participate in most states sold either Powerball or Mega Millions lottery tickets. At the present time Powerball is played in 31 states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands and Mega Millions is played in 12 states. Recent news reports indicate that both multi state lotteries plan to cross sell tickets in several states.

The consortium running Mega Millions and the Multi-State Lottery Association, which runs Powerball have agreed to cross sell lottery tickets for both games starting next year. Tom Shaheen of the Multi-State Lottery Association stated, "It's a way to increase sales and reach out to more players." In effect both could become national lotteries and it is estimated they could reach a population base of 285 million.

There is also talk of a super lottery but the new lottery is in the planning stages. Mr. Shaheen states, "If we develop a national game, it will probably be at a different price point. It might be $2. It might be $5. It will be a single game, but we haven't worked out all the details of that yet. The other two games, I believe, would remain intact." According to one Powerball official the new game could be introduced as soon as next fall.

State officials had long noticed that when jackpots grew lottery players would go out of state to purchase tickets for whichever lottery had the largest jackpot. This motivated several states to reach agreements to sell tickets for both lotteries. Cross selling will give lottery players the ability to play both large jackpot games in their home states. It will be interesting to see what the future holds for a national lottery-stay tuned.

Should the US establish a national lottery officials may want to consider allowing players to buy online lottery tickets. Several European lotteries allow sales of online lottery tickets and have reported greatly increased sales. Players can log on to lottery websites, establish an account and buy lotto tickets. In addition online lottery players can also check for current winning numbers and may also access a random number generator to help pick those winning numbers. The ability to make an online lottery purchase is extremely popular and players appreciate the convenience. It is about time lotteries moved into the 21st century!