GOV. CHARLIE BAKER on Wednesday signed a law legalizing sports betting in Massachusetts, joining more than 30 other states that have authorized sports betting since the US Supreme Court overturned a federal ban in 2018. “Our administration first filed legislation to legalize sports wagering in the Commonwealth several years ago, and I am glad to […]
Rolling the Dice
Coverage of casino licensing and the gambling referendum
Posted inGambling
Leominster group pursuing fourth casino region
A GROUP of Leominster business officials, with the help of former Senate president and now lobbyist Stan Rosenberg, is pursuing a long-shot, end-of-the-legislative-session bid to create a fourth casino region in Massachusetts in northern Worcester County. Under current state law, there are three casino regions in Massachusetts. The A and B regions are home to […]
Posted inOpinion
Roadmap to go on sports betting
MAY 14 MARKED the four-year anniversary of the US Supreme Court’s decision that struck down the federal ban on state-authorized sports betting. For four years, Massachusetts – home to one of the most sports-obsessed markets in the country in Boston – has watched from the sideline as nearly every other state in New England has […]
Posted inCourts, Gambling, State House News Service
SJC orders discovery into Everett casino land deal
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICES THE ACTIONS OF the Massachusetts Gaming Commission almost a decade ago could be put under a new microscope after the Supreme Judicial Court ruled Monday that a lower court should look more closely at the “highly unusual character of the commission’s actions” related to the award of a casino license to […]
Posted inGambling
Questions continue on lack of sports betting roll call in Senate
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE SENATE PRESIDENT Karen Spilka on Monday defended the Senate’s decision to pass legislation legalizing sports betting without making individual senators’ votes known. Spilka for weeks had said she wanted to build consensus on the issue before bringing a bill to the floor. The voice vote approving the bill indicates at least […]
Posted inGambling
Lesser says ‘broad consensus’ explains sports betting voice vote
IN A HIGHLY UNUSUAL MOVE, the Massachusetts Senate on Thursday voted for a bill legalizing sports betting by voice vote – sparing individual senators the need to record their position through a roll call vote and denying constituents the opportunity to know where each senator stands. Eric Lesser, the Senate chair of the Committee on […]
Posted inGambling
Senate passes sports betting on voice vote
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AFTER YEARS OF DISCUSSION and pressure from both inside and outside the State House, the Massachusetts Senate voted Thursday to legalize sports wagering, but lawmakers will have to reconcile the many differences between the Senate’s bill and the one that passed the House last summer before any bets can be placed. […]
Posted inGambling
Senate plans to take up sports betting next week
THE SENATE IS POISED to debate legislation Thursday to legalize sports betting in Massachusetts, but the bill that emerged Friday afternoon from a Senate committee differs in several important ways from the sports betting bill that has already cleared the House. The long-awaited wagering bill was advanced favorably out of the Senate Ways and Means […]
Posted inGambling
Encore reports best month ever in March
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE MARCH WAS A GOOD MONTH for the state’s three gambling centers and the state’s coffers. Plainridge Park Casino, MGM Springfield, and Encore Boston Harbor cumulatively generated more than $102 million in gaming revenue, about $28.6 million of which will be due to the state. In terms of revenue, March was the […]
Posted inArts and Culture
Parsing words at the Mass. Gaming Commission
MASSACHUSETTS LAWMAKERS MADE it pretty clear in 2014 that they wanted to protect midsize theaters from having to compete against event venues run by casinos, inserting into the gaming law that gambling licensees “shall only be permitted to build a live entertainment venue that has less than 1,000 seats or more than 3,500 seats.” The restriction […]