The account was funded at $2 million in fiscal years 2010, 20. That $5 million turned into $10 million in fiscal 2005 and the Lottery got $10 million for advertising each year through fiscal 2009, until the recession forced cuts. By September of that year, in a bid to boost sales and deliver more aid to cities and towns hit by local aid cuts, the Legislature and first-year governor had signed off on $5 million for Lottery advertising via radio, television and billboards in fiscal year 2004. Instead of Birmingham moving into the corner office in 2003, it was Republican Mitt Romney. The Chelsea Democrat was successful in holding down Lottery ad spending for several years, but he gave up the gavel in the Senate to run unsuccessfully for governor in 2002. That dramatic cut corresponded with the time that Thomas Birmingham, who felt that Lottery advertising preyed on poor and vulnerable residents, was deeply involved with the state budget as Senate Ways and Means chairman and then as Senate president. After approving $11.8 million for fiscal year 1994, Lottery advertising funding was slashed to $400,000 and advertising was limited to the point of sale starting in fiscal 1995. Massachusetts spent between $11 million and $13 million on lottery advertising during the late 1980s and early 1990s but the Legislature gutted the budget starting in the mid-1990s, according to News Service reporting. Lottery advertising has not been much of a talker on Beacon Hill in recent years, but its history intersects with a number of significant people and events of the last few decades of Massachusetts politics. The Lottery's ad budget is supplemented with a small portion of funds from its monitor games. If the ad budget stays there through conference negotiations, it would be the seventh straight year of level funding. The Lottery's advertising-specific budget line item has been set at a steady $4.5 million since mid-2016 and the House and Senate have both approved that same amount again for the fiscal year 2023 budget. It would be a fascinating number to be looking at." Lottery Advertising History "Maybe it's something we can, as we continue to grow in volume, and we can show the percentage of our marketing budget getting smaller and smaller versus the amount of volume that we have. ![]() "It would be nice to have a little bit more," Goldberg said of the Lottery's advertising budget. The commission also saw a video produced in-house to advertise a Keno promotion like another recent Lottery video, this one cast a Lottery employee in an acting role to minimize costs. Tuesday's meeting also featured a presentation from Full Contact on its work to produce ads connected to the Lottery's 50th anniversary this year. Goldberg later added, "As you can note, it's an extraordinarily lean advertising budget for a very large operating company." And so that makes it all the more impressive," she said. ![]() "It's unheard of, the size of the advertising budget, comparing it to any other operating company that generates that amount of volume. Goldberg, who at one point early in her tenure as treasurer asked lawmakers to allocate $10 million a year for the Lottery to advertise its products in an increasingly competitive gaming market, said a few times during Tuesday's meeting that the Lottery's advertising budget is not proportional to the $5.8 billion in revenue it took in last budget year. For more than five years, the Legislature has level-funded the Lottery's advertising line item at $4.5 million, though the Lottery can supplement that with some monitor game funds. The Lottery and Full Contact entered into a three-year contract with two one-year options last May. The Lottery Commission on Tuesday authorized the agency to spend up to $5 million for Boston firm Full Contact's advertising services in fiscal year 2023, subject to legislative appropriation. Though it has not been much of an issue on Beacon Hill for years, Lottery advertising was once a hot-button issue at the State House. State spending to promote the Lottery has been called both essential to maintaining the steady stream of revenue used for local aid and exploitation of vulnerable residents who might be drawn into gambling by the ads. The Massachusetts Lottery Commission on Tuesday approved a $5 million outlay for the next year of its advertising contract and got a presentation from its ad firm that Treasurer Deborah Goldberg said highlighted what the Lottery has done "on an incredibly small shoestring budget."
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