Massachusetts Sports Betting Launches at MGM Springfield, Encore Boston Harbor

The Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl, the Boston Celtics won the NBA Finals, the Boston Bruins won the Stanley Cup, and the Kansas City Chiefs won the Super Bowl.

These were some of the first legal face-to-face bets made on sporting events inside Massachusetts casinos on Tuesday morning, when Massachusetts’ brand-new sports betting industry took its first baby steps.

The launch of sports betting has been hailed by proponents as a way to bring the illegal gambling industry into the legal market and provide the state with a new and modest source of income. , he said he expects each sports betting lounge to be tested.

Regulators from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission announced Monday afternoon that the Encore Boston Harbor, MGM Springfield and Plainridge Park casinos will have their Proof of Operation, a document allowing sports betting licensees to facilitate betting. We worked until the last minute to approve the letter and enable a Tuesday start.

• read more: Massachusetts launches new industry as sports betting kicks off on Tuesday

Gaming Commission Chairman Cathy Judd-Stein, who has faced criticism at some points about the pace of regulatory work, said, “We hit this deadline and we’ve achieved it.”

“We have been dedicated to meeting the expectations and vision of Congress. We have worked to launch this new industry and have offered a product to all bettors that we find really exciting, engaging and fun. “But we have done so while prioritizing its integrity, consumer protection and responsible play. , prioritizing through community engagement.”

Fanfare erupted at both Encore and MGM Springfield as the clocks counted down to 10 a.m., with Las Vegas executives, state legislators, and officials from Springfield and Boston lining up wickets to hand over the first series of head-to-head cash. I was in line for Plainridge Park Casino was scheduled to launch a temporary sports betting lounge on Tuesday at 1pm.

A potpourri of sports legends was prepared for the day, including Ray Burke and Sean Thorton of the Boston Bruins and Ty Law and Rob Ninkovich of the New England Patriots. Most bet and Bourque put money into their former team.

“I’m dating the Bruins,” he said, handing over the money to the teller at MGM Springfield.

At the encore, Speaker of the House Ronald Mariano, who threw $50 into both the Celtics and Bruins and won it all, said the Gambling Commission regulators were “very slow and methodical” in setting up the sports betting industry. said it is.

“They wanted to get it right,” Mariano said. “I really think they could have gone a little bit faster because they had a lot of use cases for other states. So you can’t blame them for that.”

Former Senator Eric Lesser, who led the final negotiations that would become the state’s sports betting law, said gambling had “a long way to go” since the U.S. Supreme Court paved the way for gambling more than four years ago. said.

“One of the unique problems we always face in Springfield is that we have competition from Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, not far from New York, of course,” Lesser told MassLive. “The problem has always been that the states around us, the states bordering us, are moving much faster than we are. Excellent, and I think the end result will be stronger.”

Some daily bettors who were in the casino on Tuesday had the interstate race in mind.

“I think it softens the competition,” said Revere’s Matilda Bonfardeci, who attended the encore and won the Kansas City Chiefs’ money line in the Super Bowl. “They’re not going to race across state lines, and you know, people would be happy to get it here in Massachusetts.”

MGM Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno likened the start of sports betting to a hat-trick.

“It’s good for MGM. A spin-off effect could be very good for the city of Springfield and for the state of Massachusetts,” he said.

At the state level, tax revenue projections for sports betting range from $30 million to $65 million, which is a typical state budget for Massachusetts and has exceeded $40 billion in recent years.

Beverly Democrat Rep. Gerald Parisella said more than 30% of bets in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, last year came from Massachusetts residents attending the Super Bowl.

“Now we have better commodities here in Massachusetts, lower taxes, and better commodities have better odds. I’m going to bring it,” he said in Boston.

Former Gov. Charlie Baker, who now heads the NCAA, consistently puts the expected $35 million in tax revenue into several state budgets.

In an interview last week, Judstein said there is no “crystal ball” in financial expectations.

“We have not made any kind of public statement about what to expect in terms of earnings over time,” she said. and maximize federal benefits.”