Massachusetts drafts new gambling law

As a result of its interesting gambling history, it had been expected that Massachusetts would be at the forefront of the new gambling regulations within the United States. However, until now progress has been much slower than anticipated.

In the wake of the Supreme Court ruling, which placed the responsibility for the regulation of online sports betting upon individual states, Massachusetts was expected to be one of the first to introduce new measures. Although this state has a colourful history regarding gambling that dates back to the 1930’s , it has Tribal casinos plus other types of gambling establishments, e.g. dog racing, brick and mortar casinos, it is still wary about legalizing online gambling and sports betting. This might largely be due to its duty to protect its residents and their funds from loss on such platforms.

Over recent months, there have been a large number of proposals put forward and yet despite this, they have gained little to no traction. This despite the fact that the Governor of the state has himself been at the forefront of the call for progressive reforms. His intention is to ensure that Massachusetts is able to compete with other states in terms of the regulated sports and online gambling industry.

The Governor of the state intends to achieve this in the near future by making sports betting a regular offering in full fledged casinos, there would be sports betting lounges in casinos and slot parlours, online and sports betting would be offered by Sports betting license holders, their would be sports betting available to companies that do not operate a brick and mortar license, tax on online betting would be 12.5% which is 2.5% higher than retail betting, the sports betting license application would cost $100,000, $500,000 fee to be paid every 5 years after approval and sports betting is restricted to professional sporting events only. 

This only undermines the progressive developments that the state and the Governor are hoping to achieve.

It is also looking like a real possibility in the state as there is not fear of a sports betting bill been vetoed by the Governor since he leads the charge. This works in line with the overall development of the gaming industry in the state.  

However, it’s important to remember that this is only an attempted step forward by the Governor and at the time of this article, it remains a proposal and nothing more.  

This been said, it is good to place in perspective just how good a possibility it is of legalization of sports betting in Massachusetts. In the state of Pennsylvania the application fee is $10 million while the tax rate is 36%. When you compare this figures to Massachusetts, there is indeed light at the end of the tunnel for the state’s online sports betting industry.   

The most progressive move by the Governor of Massachusetts is towards the allowance of betting companies which do not own a brick and mortar gaming facility to apply for a gaming license in the state. What this means is these companies can offer online betting in the state. There is an estimated $35 million revenue which would be made from these online gaming industry and all revenues made would go to the State’s Gaming Commission local aid fund completely.

All of this only helps to increase the chances of online sports betting being made legal within the state in the near future.  

The forward turn which online gambling and sports betting have taken in the state is also largely attributed to the overturn of PASPA by the United States supreme court. The PASPA was a 30 year old law which deemed sports betting as an illegal activity in most states. With the overturn of the law, a good number of states have moved forward with legislation towards making online gambling and sports betting legal while some have gone forward with taking bets on sports. 

It’s little doubt that Massachusetts will now be looking to other states as examples of what can happen when these progressive steps forwards are taken. The prime example is that of Rhode Island, a state that has experienced a huge increase in revenue from tax.