Massachusetts Lottery Players Can Look To Get Lucky Seven Days A Week

One of Massachusetts‘ most popular lottery games will soon be giving players more chances to win.

The Massachusetts State Lottery offers Lucky for Life, the game in which winners receive $1,000 a day for the rest of their lives. The game will expand from two to seven drawings per week starting next Monday, July 19.

At present, the multi-jurisdiction Lucky for Life game’s two drawings take place each Monday and Thursday evening at 10:38 p.m. Eastern time. Starting next Monday, the drawings will happen every night at the same time.

Tickets are $2 and are on sale until 9:30 p.m. for that night’s drawing. The expansion of the game to daily drawings will not affect the odds or prizes.

Pick six balls correctly, win $1K per day for life

Lucky for Life invites players to choose five numbers from 1-48 (the white balls) plus one more number from 1-18 (the green “lucky” ball). Guessing all six numbers correctly wins the top prize, though the odds of doing that are about 1 in 30.8 million.

First-prize winners receive the equivalent of $1,000 per day for life for a minimum of 20 years. Payments are, in fact, paid out on a weekly basis. Should the winner die prior to the 20-year threshold, the payments continue to the winner’s estate. First-prize winners can also take a one-time cash option instead of $5.75 million.

Lucky for Life awards a second prize for getting the five white balls correct, with the odds of doing that about 1 in 1.8 million. That prize is $25,000 a year for life, again for a minimum of 20 years, or a one-time cash option of $390,000.

Prizes are awarded for other combinations of correctly-guessed balls as well, down to $4 for getting only the green Lucky ball correct or $3 for picking two white balls.

Lucky for Life expansion precedes Powerball adding third drawing

Lucky for Life first launched as Lucky-4-Life in Connecticut in 2009, with Massachusetts adding it in 2012. The game’s current format began in 2015.

Currently, 22 states and the District of Columbia participate in Lucky for Life.

According to the Lucky for Life Winners Archive, since the format change in 2015 there has been one Lucky for Life first-prize winner in Massachusetts. A total of 45 second prizes have been won in Massachusetts since then as well.

The expansion of Lucky for Life isn’t the only multi-jurisdictional lottery adding drawings. Starting August 23, Powerball will add a third weekly drawing on Mondays to go along with the Wednesday and Saturday drawings. Mass Lottery also offers Powerball.