BOSTON, Mass. (WWLP) – The Massachusetts Lottery turned 50 in 2022 and the Massachusetts State House held a celebration Wednesday. The first Massachusetts lottery ticket was sold on March 22, 1972, and since that day the lottery has generated over $143 billion in revenue for the Commonwealth.

Governor Charlie Baker was in attendance at the celebration to present a citation to Massachusetts Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, and some Boston mascots were there as well to draw a live drawing of the Midday Numbers Game, the longest-running game in the lottery’s current offerings. There was even a performance of the Lottery’s official jingle.

State Treasurer Deb Goldberg, who just won reelection, addressed the crowd and thanked the family of former treasurer Bob Crane, who started the lottery in 1972. For business owner Tony Amico of Ted’s Stateline Mobile, the Massachusetts lottery is much more than a game

“I mean without the lottery, I don’t think we’d really be in business,” he said. “We have 15 people that work for us and it keeps them all, you know, working and they all have families so, so it helps a lot,”

Since the beginning, there has been a total of $100 billion in prizes doled out by the Massachusetts lottery to prize winners.