New Hampshire Online Lottery Launched: NH ilottery
Lottery players in New Hampshire can now enter major drawings and play instant win games from the comfort of home. NH iLottery quietly launched on September 4th with little fanfare, but waited until this past Thursday to formally announce the new iLottery with a press release published on the NH Lottery website.
Charlie McIntyre, Executive Director of the NH Lottery, said this in a statement accompanying Thursday’s press release:
“The New Hampshire Lottery’s focus is squarely on our players. Everything we do is driven by our players, and we are constantly striving to offer players new opportunities. iLottery is a strategic response to our technology-driven culture—you can now play the New Hampshire Lottery from anywhere while in New Hampshire.
“The New Hampshire Lottery is always looking for opportunities to drive revenue, which supports education in New Hampshire, and we see iLottery as an important new tool to support our efforts to increase sales. We expect our iLottery offerings to support continued momentum as we work to drive record-breaking sales and revenues.”
The press release also states that since launching on September 4th, NH iLottery has already recorded more than 4,200 new registrations and has paid more than $360,000 in winnings. In all, players have deposited nearly $100,000 into their iLottery accounts as of September 20th.
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu approved online lottery sales in 2017 after signing an omnibus bill for the 2018-2019 state budget that included measures for an online lottery. Media reports at the time stated the first online lottery games were expected to go live within the first couple of months of 2018.
According to the budget bill that authorized online lottery games, New Hampshire expects to raise $13 million for the education trust fund over the first two years. How the delayed launch will impact those projections remains to be seen, but online lottery games have proven quite popular in Pennsylvania and Kentucky.
First Look at New Hampshire iLottery
New Hampshire iLottery offers a collection of eight instant-win games that resemble scratch-off tickets with prizes worth as much as $250,000. According to the NH Lottery, new instant win games will be launched monthly with the goal being to have 24 instant win games online by the end of the year.
A simple interface greets customers at the New Hampshire online lottery website with a full listing of instant win and draw games that are available for play right now:
Additionally, players can enter Mega Millions and Powerball drawings online. State residents 18 and older can sign up for an account and may play games online after identity and location verification. In addition to age requirements, NH iLottery includes two other protection measures.
First, customers are limited to a maximum daily deposit of $500 for playing draw-based games and a maximum weekly deposit limit of $1500 to fund their player wallets. Additionally, the total monthly deposit for all online accounts is limited to $3,000.
Second, NH iLottery does not allow credit card deposits. Players may only make deposits via debit card, PayPal and ACH bank transfer. Players also have the option to set further restrictions to lower the amount they’re allowed to deposit each month.
Winnings under $600 are paid directly to players’ online iLottery accounts. Winnings greater than $600 and less than $10,000 can also be claimed online after filling out an online claim form. Winnings greater than $10,000 and annuity prizes must be claimed in person at the NH Lottery headquarters.
NeoPollard Interactive LLC was tapped by the NH Lottery to run its online platform. NeoPollard describes itself as one of the most experienced iLottery providers in North America, and is also the same company that powers the Michigan iLottery.
In a separate press release, NeoPollard General Manager Liz Siver said this:
“We are thrilled to be working with the New Hampshire Lottery to deliver iLottery to its players. We are pleased to introduce iLottery strategies and products that will strengthen the Lottery’s portfolio and increase sales across all channels.
“With the launch of an iLottery platform, the robust interactive and mobile components of our solution will provide new insights into player preferences and behaviors, while our responsible gaming initiatives will support the New Hampshire Lottery’s mission of providing secure and entertaining gaming products.”
The NH iLottery platform is still a relatively simple offering, but we can look at what NeoPollard has done for the Michigan online lottery for a preview of what else may come in NH.
Michigan iLottery has been in operation for several years now and provides a collection of more than 50 instant win games, tickets to Powerball and Mega Millions and tickets to local, state-level drawings such as Lotto 47 and Fantasy 5.
The Michigan online lottery also offers welcome bonuses new customers to include 10 free games for signing up plus a 50% welcome bonus worth up to $100. NH iLottery has not yet announced any promotions of this type, but that’s something else NeoPollard may potentially add to the NH online lottery in coming months.
Mike Murphy is the founder of BettingUSA.com and has over 10 years of experience in the legal gambling industry. A regular attendee of industry trade shows and conferences, Mike is a strong proponent in the idea of a well regulated online betting industry.
