LOCALLY OWNED retail stores are rightfully up in arms about inclusion of an online lottery in the House fiscal 2024 budget. As demonstrated through testimony before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure, an online lottery system in competition against stores is not needed. The expansion of the lottery online will harm […]
Gambling
Posted inPolitics
Competitiveness is watchword on Beacon Hill, but what does it mean?
BEACON HILL’S favorite buzzword these days is “competitiveness,” but the meaning isn’t always the same among the three big players in state government and their different approaches to the topic are shaping the upcoming budget debate. The Senate appears to be leaning into its more liberal reputation in defining competitiveness, proposing beefy investments in human […]
Posted inGambling
Envisioning a Massachusetts ‘iLottery’
IF THE MASSACHUSETTS LOTTERY expands onto the internet with a new “iLottery,” what could it look like? Let’s spin the wheel. Option 1 – Michigan. Started in 2014, the Michigan lottery is “the standard” for online lottery platforms, says interim Massachusetts State Lottery director Mark Bracken. The site hits you with a big payout draw […]
Posted inGambling, State Government
Campbell is wary but OK with online Lottery
THE COLORS ARE bright, the ads are popping, and promises of free money encourage you to just try out a bit of online gambling. Welcome to a vision of the online state lottery, which is making serious strides toward becoming reality in Massachusetts with the blessing of one legislative chamber and the new governor. Don’t […]
Posted inGambling
Mass. residents placed $568m in sports bets in March
MASSACHUSETTS RESIDENTS placed $568 million in legal sports bets in March, with 77 percent of the money wagered with DraftKings and FanDuel. March was the first month where the state’s six online licensees and three brick-and-mortar casinos were all taking sports bets, so the numbers provide the first indication of sports betting’s popularity in Massachusetts. […]
Posted inGambling
Healey backs moving Lottery games online
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GOV. MAURA HEALEY is on board with the House’s push to legalize online Massachusetts Lottery sales, a stance that could ramp up pressure on the Senate to approve another gambling expansion shortly after sports betting launched. Saying that her answer might leave host Jim Braude “shocked,” Gov. Maura Healey told GBH’s […]
Posted inGambling
What you need to know about the House budget proposal
What follows is an explainer about what’s in the House Ways and Means budget proposal for fiscal 2024. How big is the House Ways and Means budget? It comes in at nearly $56.2 billion, and that’s before lawmakers start adding earmarked spending during the budget debate that starts April 26. The budget is about $170 […]
Posted inGambling
Gaming Commission rejects bid to bet on Boston Marathon
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE LEGAL BETTING will not be allowed in Massachusetts on this year’s Boston Marathon after a request from DraftKings to take wagers was met with opposition from race organizers and gambling regulators. DraftKings had asked the Gaming Commission to add the Boston Marathon to the catalog of events approved for wagering in […]
Posted inGambling
Sports betting opens with big bang
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MORE THAN 400,000 mobile sports betting accounts were active during the first three days online was available in Massachusetts and more than 8 million transactions took place, making Massachusetts the fifth busiest mobile betting state in the country last weekend. GeoComply, a vendor that provides the Gaming Commission with geolocation and fraud […]
Posted inGambling
Online sports betting launches in Massachusetts
SIX OPERATORS started taking online sports bets at 10 a.m. Friday, launching a new era of Massachusetts gambling one day after gaming officials and the attorney general worried about how to protect vulnerable populations from being inundated with gambling advertisements. “Gambling in our state is about to enter a new phase,” Pat Moore, first assistant […]