The Massachusetts State Lottery may be headed to the Internet.
Steve Grossman, state treasurer, is forming a task force to consider whether Massachusetts should institute online sales of lottery tickets following a recent legal opinion from the Justice Department that clears the way for states to do so.
Grossman characterized the federal opinion as “a surprise that accelerates the urgency of dealing with online lottery sales and online gambling in general.’’
The task force will consist of about 20 members, including representatives from the state treasurer’s office, the Massachusetts Lottery, private citizens, and elected officials, according to a spokesman for Grossman. The state has also begun a search for a consultant to provide expertise and research services.
Grossman said he expects to start meeting with task force members as early as “the next few weeks,’’ even before the consultant is hired.
The Department of Justice opinion arrived as the state is implementing a law that legalizes casino gambling. Signed in November, the law allows three full-scale casinos and one slot machine parlor in Massachusetts. The state is also poised to allow consumers to purchase lottery tickets using debit cards as well as cash.
The department issued the opinion in response to requests by the states of New York and Illinois to clarify whether the Wire Act of 1961, which bars wagers via telecommunications that cross state or international borders, prevents states from using the Internet to sell lottery tickets to adults within their own borders.
The new interpretation said the Wire Act applies only to bets on a “sporting event or contest.’’
One question is whether the opinion will set the stage for a boom in nonsports Internet betting. “If the Department of Justice is saying that the Wire Act only applies to sports-related wagering, then that opens it up for everyone else who is offering online poker, online table games, and so on,’’ said Kimberly Herman, a lawyer who represents lottery equipment makers for the Boston office of the law firm Sullivan & Worcester. “There’s so much money involved, they are all going to rush in.’’
For opponents of expanded gambling in Massachusetts, the opinion opens a new, unwelcome battle front, and the prospect of state-sponsored online gaming. “More Internet gambling will simply siphon more and more money out of the economy and create more individual debt, suicides, alcoholism, and mental health problems,’’ wrote Tom Larkin, president of the antigambling group United to Stop Slots in Massachusetts, in an e-mail.
Larkin said he was particularly concerned about Internet gambling’s impact on youth.