While there’s plenty of anticipation about Massachusetts’ digital version of sports betting arriving Friday, operators could find the route to profitability more challenging there than in other states.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s advertising and responsible gambling guardrails are far more strict than in other states and the cost to get up and running is high. While stakeholders believe that Massachusetts will outperform its population size, the Bay State is the 16th biggest in the U.S. and will become the 10th largest with live digital wagering. Its population is about one-third the size of New York’s and about half of Pennsylvania’s, the two biggest states in the U.S. with legal digital wagering.