Mass. bets on repatriating lost gaming revenue

Massachusetts has thrown off another vestige of its Puritan past.

You can bet on it.

The first legal in-person bets on collegiate and professional sporting events were placed Tuesday morning, as the state’s sports wagering industry made its long-awaited debut.

The launch of sports betting has been hailed by supporters as a way to rein in an illegal betting industry, keep Massachusetts sports wagering in-state, and offer a new but modest source of revenue.

Regulators with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission toiled until the 11th hour for Tuesday’s launch, approving the documents that allow sports wagering licensees to facilitate bets at the state’s two casinos, Encore Boston Harbor and MGM Springfield, and Plainridge Park slots parlor.

The three designated venues now have about a week and a half to iron out any wrinkles before the Super Bowl on Feb. 12, when they’re expecting a considerable handle of betting action.

For now, only in-person wagering via kiosks or point-ofsale terminals staffed by employees will be available.

Mobile wagering is expected to roll out sometime early next month, in time for NCAA basketball’s March Madness; regulators have approved 11 companies to offer betting through digital applications.

Gaming Commission Chair Cathy Judd-stein, whose agency has been criticized in some circles for the slow pace of its regulatory work, said

“we had our eyes on this targeted deadline, and we made it.”

At Encore, House Speaker Ronald Mariano conceded Gaming Commission regulators were “very slow and methodical” in setting up the sports betting industry.

“They wanted to get it right,” Mariano said. “They had plenty of examples of other states to use, so I really think they could have gone a little faster. But obviously, they erred on the side of caution and took the time and wanted to make sure that there were no major mistakes. So, you can’t fault them for that.”

As the countdown neared Tuesday’s 10 a.m. liftoff, both Encore and MGM Springfield rose to the occasion, with Las Vegas executives, state lawmakers, and Springfield and Boston officials lining up for the first series of in-person wagers.

Eric Lesser, who as a state senator led the final negotiations on what would later become the state’s sports betting law, said the launch of wagering is a “long time coming,” more than four years after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way.

“One of the unique issues that we always faced in Springfield is we have a competition with Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, and of course, we’re not very far from New York either,” the Longmeadow Democrat told Masslive. “The issue was always that we had our surrounding states, our bordering states, moving much faster than us. This catches us up. I think, ultimately, our law is better, and the ultimate result is going to be stronger.”

State Rep. Jerald Parisella, a Beverly Democrat who also led the sports betting charge in the state Legislature, said more than 30% of bets last year placed in New Hampshire on the Super Bowl came from Massachusetts.

“Now we have a better product here in Massachusetts, our (wagering) tax rate is lower, we have better odds for the bettors, so we’re going to bring those people from New Hampshire and Rhode Island up to Massachusetts to bet on the Super Bowl.”

Some everyday bettors who were at the casinos Tuesday also had interstate competition on their minds.

“I think it’s gonna relieve the competition,” said Matilda Bonfardeci of Revere, who was at Encore and took the money line on the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. “They’re not going to be competing with going over the state line, and, you know, people are going to be happy to have it here in Massachusetts.”

At the state level, tax revenue expectations for sports betting have ranged from $30 million to $65 million, a fraction of the approximately $1 billion the State Lottery generates annually in local aid for Massachusetts cities and towns.

For Massachusetts, sportsbetting revenue was always a secondary consideration.

Marginalizing illegal wagering, and keeping whatever revenue legal gambling generates out of neighboring states ultimately became the main objective.