Gaming regulators reached no conclusions Monday as to how they will treat, for tax purposes, the promotional betting offers that sports wagering companies dangle to attract customers, or whether they might seek to put responsible gaming guardrails around their use in Massachusetts.
The primary question before the Gaming Commission Monday was how they should handle promo play credits — the “free” bets that operators offer to lure in bettors, like the “up to $1,000 back in free bets if you don’t win your first [NFL] bet” that FanDuel Sportsbook offered on its website Monday — for tax purposes. Whether some or all of the $1,000 that FanDuel would give a player to bet with them is counted as part of the company’s taxable revenue base has significant tax revenue implications for the state and profit implications for operators.
