Connect with us

Legal

Massachusetts Sports Betting Passes House, Senate Debate Won’t Happen Until Fall

Boston Red Sox mascot in legal MA sportsbook

A scenario that is becoming commonplace across the USA are states that find themselves surrounded by other regions that allow for legal sports betting.

This is the case in Massachusetts. States that share a border with MA are raking in sports betting revenue and are also attracting their residents to visit and place a wager at their in-state venues.

Legal Massachusetts sports betting just got a major shot in the arm yesterday as two bills passed through the House favorably and are now headed to the Senate for further consideration.

The current language allows for specific MA casinos to take bets on sports in-house, but there are also highly profitable provisions in place for mobile sports betting applications and online wagering.

The inclusion of mobile and online sports betting has been a game-changer in regard to revenue collection, and it makes sense. When sports bettors can visit one of many online sportsbooks in Boston instead of traveling to a casino, they’ll simply grab their smartphone or laptop and place a wager over the web.

Because Massachusetts sports gamblers will have the best of all three worlds (brick-and-mortar, online, and mobile sportsbooks), there’ll no longer be the temptation of visiting sportsbooks in New Hampshire or Connecticut (coming soon).

“I represent a district which borders New Hampshire. In Haverhill, you can literally walk across the border into New Hampshire and place a bet. I know that my constituents who partake in sports wagering would rather place these bets in their homes and in their own state and would rather have any revenue collected going towards benefiting their home state of Massachusetts.”

MA House Representative Andy Vargas (Haverhill)

Massachusetts House Bill 3977 Details

  • Domestic Sportsbooks Allowed AT:
    • Encore Boston Harbor
    • MGM Springfield
    • Plainridge Park Casino
  • Massachusetts Gaming Commission Regulates Sports Betting
  • $5 Million Fee For Mobile Sportsbook Licenses
  • 5% Tax On In-Person Bets
  • 15% Tax On Mobile/Online Sports Betting
  • Extra 1% Tax On Bets Made On MA-Based Teams
  • Minimum Sports Gambling Age Of 21
  • No NCAA Non-Team Sports Betting Allowed

While the House passage of this MA sports betting bill is a promising indicator of things to come, the Senate is under no obligation whatsoever to take up discussions and said bill or create their own version.

It is expected the Massachusetts Senate will draft their own sports betting bill that will eventually need to conform to the House version, and political forecasters and predicant that talks will begin in the fall of 2021.

A regulatory bill, 516, is also making the rounds and includes allowances for Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) which has been the main staple of online vendors over the past decade.

One portion of the bill that is expected to cause difficulty in the Senate is an allowance for up to 5 slot machines to be licensed out to veterans’ organizations.

Currently, the only thing that’s for sure is that nothing’s for sure, but the movement in the MA legislature at least reveals some positive movement in the direction of legal sports betting. Until then, local sports gamblers will resort to regional domestic options or offshore sportsbook sites.

Source – NBC 10 Boston

More in Legal