Efforts to control the deadly coronavirus pandemic – from plexiglass shields at roulette tables to bans on patrons standing and drinking at the same time – dominated the news for MGM Springfield and the region’s other casinos in 2020.
But it’s sports gambling and how Massachusetts and its neighbors choose to regulate it, that could have the biggest impact on MGM going forward.
“If they don’t get sports gambling at the casino or online, I don’t see much of a future,” says Richard McGowan, a professor in the Carroll School of Management at Boston College who studies the gambling and casino industries. “They are in way too much debt. The future of gambling looks like it’s online. What will make or break MGM Springfield is what the Massachusetts Legislature decides to do with sports gambling.”
That could be running online betting through the existing casinos, as New Jersey has done. Delaware uses the state’s lottery. But online operators like DraftKings want in on the action as well.
