In April, the Massachusetts Senate passed legislation permitting sports betting, almost a year after the state’s House of Representatives passed a similar bill. The two bills must be reconciled before sports betting is available in the state.
Expected to generate $35 million in tax revenue annually for Massachusetts, there’s plank in the Senate’s bill that may be problematic: It bans betting on collegiate sports.
Wednesday, the American Gaming Association posted a letter by President and CEO Bill Miller to the Massachusetts General Court and a conference committee attempting to resolve differences between the House and Senate passed versions. Banning sports betting, the letter states, will result in unintended consequences.
“Prohibiting wagers on collegiate sports would not only hinder the growth and development of a legal sports betting industry in Massachusetts, it also puts consumers at risk by encouraging their continued reliance on the illegal market, and fails to protect the integrity of games and wagers,” Miller wrote.
At least one Massachusetts senator partially agrees with the AGA’s premise. According to the Patriot-Ledger, Sen. Patrick O’Connor, R-Weymouth, wants to allow betting on collegiate sports when teams from the state aren’t involved.
“Bettors in Massachusetts are currently betting illegally on college sports, largely in the black market or offshore websites which have no obligation to detect or report concerns regarding the integrity of the games,” O’Connor said.
Miller’s letter references AGA’s research that indicates collegiate sports accounts for 20% of all legal betting in the United States, an estimated $11.5 billion of the $57.71 billion wagered in 2021
“Allowing legal, regulated wagering on collegiate events strengthens the integrity of games and protects bettors, competitions and the athletes competing in them by enabling robust, transparent, and collaborative monitoring by regulators and law enforcement,” Miller wrote. “Only in a legal, regulated market do regulators and law enforcement have insight into betting patterns and activity that can help them identify concerning trends, that in turn help to uncover unlawful tampering with games and athletes. No such protections exist in the illegal marketplace.”
Other points of emphasis in the AGA letter to Massachusetts include no limits on advertising by sportsbooks, and the adoption of “a reasonable tax rate that will allow and encourage regulated operators to effectively compete against illegal, offshore entities.”
