Page 6 - BusinessWest October 3, 2022

revenue and immense economic benefits,” state Sen. John Velis said in August.
The bill allows for 15 online licenses for com- panies like DraftKings and FanDuel, in addition to five retail licenses for the three casinos and two racetracks in Massachusetts. The bill also creates a commission to study additional licenses for smaller businesses, such as bars and restaurants.
The bill includes out-of-state collegiate betting but does not allow bets on Massachusetts college teams unless they are in the playoffs. The bill also includes a 20% tax on mobile bets and a 15% tax on retail bets, which would be paid by the operat- ing company.
“Sports betting is, by far, the number-one question I get asked on a daily basis, and it has been for years now,” said Chris Kelley, president and chief operating officer of MGM Springfield, which built two sports viewing lounges last year partly in anticipation of legal sports betting (more on those later). “The entire team is looking for- ward to welcoming the first bet. When the time comes, we’ll be ready.”
Devil’s in the Details
With the legislation now law, the MGC will work out the details that will make legal sports betting a reality. It has already come up with a list of about 225 regulations that will need to be drafted.
“A great deal of work has already been done
by our team in anticipation of sports wagering becoming legal in Massachusetts,” Gaming Com- mission Executive Director Karen Wells said last month. “This includes identifying over 200 poten- tial regulations, adopting a framework to utilize industry-recognized technical standards, estab-
lishing an infrastructure to investigate and license applicants, initiating the hiring of a chief of Sports Wagering, and scheduling public meetings. Now that we have a law that defines our responsibili- ties as regulator, we will work with our stakehold- ers to swiftly stand up this new industry with a focus on integrity, player safety, and consumer protection.”
gered winnings, creating a high level of churn — is not the same as the total revenue taken in by operators.
“It’s easy to lose sight of the fact that sports betting is run on very narrow margins, so the actual revenues the operator is able to gener- ate are a very small number of what the handle numbers are,” she explained. “At this point, the
RACHEL VOLBERG
“At this point, the most optimistic scenario for sports betting tax revenues in Massachusetts is about $60 million, and that’s assuming the legal operators are able to capture the great majority of the legal market. It also assumes it will attract people who haven’t bet on sports before there was a
legitimate, legal provider.”
They’ll take a hard look at SEIGMA’s report in crafting that framework and its many elements, Gaming Commission Chair Cathy Judd-Stein said, noting that “this report will aid the MGC as we begin to regulate a sports-wagering industry in the Commonwealth with an uncompromising focus on integrity and player safety.”
Volberg added that “we were trying to give
a very broad overview of what is known at this point about the social and economic impact of sports betting, and it’s the first nationwide effort to do that. It also summarizes what we know about sports betting in Massachusetts.”
She told BusinessWest that the ‘handle’ — a term that refers to all money bet, including rewa-
most optimistic scenario for sports betting tax revenues in Massachusetts is about $60 million, and that’s assuming the legal operators are able to capture the great majority of the legal market. It also assumes it will attract people who haven’t bet on sports before there was a legitimate, legal provider.”
Because so little information about the impacts of sports betting is available, Volberg’s team mined data from their own surveys and studies that are part of the research ordered by the Massachusetts Legislature when lawmakers passed the Expanded Gaming Act in 2011. Mean- while, a representative survey of 8,000 adults
was completed in Massachusetts earlier this year
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6 OCTOBER 3, 2022
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