Gaming regulators approved Thursday a sports betting license for Encore Boston Harbor, making it the first casino in Massachusetts to gain an initial greenlight and putting it on the path to facilitate in-person betting sometime early next year.

And if not for the glitzy casino in Everett, the first full week of December would have passed without the Massachusetts Gaming Commission approving any of the three sports betting applications from casinos in the state that were the subject of lengthy hearings over three days.

But Encore Boston Harbor managed to secure what its competitors, MGM Springfield and Plainridge Park Casino, had not in meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday — for the moment, at least.