State Sen. John Keenan voted to legalize sports betting in Massachusetts in 2022. He says it didn’t take long to regret it.
The betting ads came first: on phones, billboards, television and radio. Then came the phone calls from constituents whose family members were struggling with gambling addiction. Keenan had seen problems like this before: he’d led State House fights against opioid manufacturers and tobacco companies.
“I can’t stand the idea of moneyed interests pushing products they know are addictive upon people,” the Quincy Democrat said.
Last year, Keenan publicly apologized for supporting sports betting and filed one of the strictest reform bills in the country.
