The Massachusetts RMV low number plate lottery is a free annual drawing that lets eligible residents win a passenger plate numbered between 1 and 999, with a special MA250 lottery running for 2026 that puts 1,000 plates up for grabs to mark the state’s 250th anniversary.1Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. Massachusetts RMV Announces Special MA250 Low Number Plate Lottery Entry is online, winners are picked at random, and you have a hard deadline to pay the fees and swap your plates or you lose them.
Who Can Enter
You need to be a Massachusetts resident with a valid Massachusetts driver’s license or state ID card in good standing.2Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. MA250 Low Number Plate Lottery Rules and Eligibility You also need a passenger vehicle currently registered in your name and actively insured. Registration alone won’t cut it; the insurance has to be active.
The RMV automatically disqualifies anyone with outstanding obligations on file with the state. That covers unpaid excise taxes, unresolved parking tickets, unpaid E-ZPass or Pay by Plate violations, outstanding child support, and active warrants.3Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. 2025 Low Plate Lottery Rules and Eligibility Records are checked internally, so an old ticket you forgot about will quietly knock you out. Clear anything you might owe well before the window opens.
Only one entry per person, no matter how many vehicles you have registered.3Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. 2025 Low Plate Lottery Rules and Eligibility Submitting duplicates won’t improve your odds and can get all your entries tossed.
How To Enter
The 2026 MA250 lottery opened at 9:00 a.m. on Monday, February 16, 2026, and closes at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, April 17, 2026.1Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. Massachusetts RMV Announces Special MA250 Low Number Plate Lottery That is a shorter window than the usual annual lottery, which typically runs through mid-August.
Applications go through the myRMV Online Service Center. After logging in, look under the “Plates” button for the lottery application. You’ll enter your full legal name as it appears on your license, your current residential address, and your license or ID number. The system cross-checks these against RMV records, so a mistyped number or a name that doesn’t match will likely bounce your entry without any notice to you. There is no fee to apply.1Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. Massachusetts RMV Announces Special MA250 Low Number Plate Lottery
Check every field before you submit. There’s no fix after the deadline.
How Winners Are Chosen and Notified
An electronic random number generator picks winners from the pool of eligible entries. You cannot request a specific number. The MA250 drawing is scheduled for the first week of May 2026, no later than the end of that month.2Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. MA250 Low Number Plate Lottery Rules and Eligibility The pool covers plates 1 through 999, plus the symbolic plate 1776. Alternates are chosen during the same drawing to receive any plate a primary winner doesn’t claim.
Within five business days of the drawing, results with each winner’s name, city, and plate number are posted at Mass.Gov/RMV.2Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. MA250 Low Number Plate Lottery Rules and Eligibility Winners are also notified by mail with instructions to complete the transfer. The RMV does not send winner notifications by email, so watch your physical mailbox.
Claiming the Plate
Winning doesn’t put a plate on your car by itself. You pay a $40 biennial special plate fee plus a $60 registration fee, for a total of $100.1Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. Massachusetts RMV Announces Special MA250 Low Number Plate Lottery Your notification letter walks you through transferring your current registration to the new plate.
The deadline to pay and swap plates in the MA250 lottery is Friday, August 28, 2026. Miss it and the plate is forfeited with no exceptions, and it goes to the pre-selected alternate.4Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. 250th Anniversary Low Number Plate Lottery Winners You get roughly three to four months from the drawing to complete everything, so don’t sit on it.
What You Can and Can’t Do With the Plate
You cannot sell, gift, or transfer a low-number lottery plate to anyone else. It is registered only to the winning applicant named on the original entry.2Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. MA250 Low Number Plate Lottery Rules and Eligibility All plates remain the property of the RMV. You hold onto it for as long as you keep your registration current, and when you’re done with it, it goes back to the state.
That means you can’t hand a won plate to a spouse, sell the number to a collector, or pass it to a child through your estate. Whatever you may have read about low-number plates as tradable assets, the lottery rules block any secondary market for plates awarded this way.
Annual Lottery vs. Special Lotteries
Massachusetts runs a regular annual low-number plate lottery in addition to occasional special drawings like the MA250. The annual pool is smaller: the 2025 annual lottery offered 282 plates, with an application deadline in mid-August and a September drawing.3Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. 2025 Low Plate Lottery Rules and Eligibility Unclaimed 2025 plates were forfeited after December 31, 2025, and alternates were contacted in draw order.
Eligibility rules are the same in either type of lottery: Massachusetts residency, a valid license or ID, an active and insured registration in your name, and no outstanding obligations to the state. What changes is the timeline, the number of plates available, and the plate design. Special lotteries usually draw more entries because of the larger pool and commemorative plates, so odds vary a lot year to year depending on which drawing is running.
If you missed the MA250 window, watch Mass.Gov/RMV for the next annual lottery announcement; the RMV has not yet published the 2026 annual dates.