MARCH WAS “Problem Gambling Awareness Month” in Massachusetts, but for those in charge of the state lottery the gambling problem coming into the new year was that people weren’t doing enough of it. The lottery was seeing flat or declining sales in many of its games during the last half of 2022, which represented the […]
Rolling the Dice
Coverage of casino licensing and the gambling referendum
Posted inGambling
Gaming Commission asks feds to shut down illegal gambling
GAMBLERS IN MASSACHUSETTS have a full menu of wagering options to choose from these days: physical casinos, sports betting in person or online, and the state lottery, which some officials are itching to bring online as well. One thing not on the menu, Bay State regulators want to make clear, is illegal gambling. Members of […]
Posted inEconomy, Gambling, Opinion
An online lottery will hurt Main Street retailers
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 […]
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
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 […]
Posted inGambling
Encore allowed to expand its gaming footprint
THE MASSACHUSETTS Gaming Commission voted 4-1 on Wednesday to allow Encore Boston Harbor to expand its gambling operations in Everett to a new property under development across the street from the company’s existing casino. The commission bent over backwards to accommodate the expansion, interpreting a 2013 vote by Everett voters as a mandate for extending […]
Posted inGambling
Encore posts record-high gambling revenues
THE ENCORE BOSTON HARBOR casino in Everett posted record-high gambling revenues in December, propelled by money spent at the facility’s gaming tables. The large haul at Encore, combined with fairly strong revenues at MGM Springfield and Plainridge Park Casino in Plainville, yielded nearly $28.8 million in state tax revenues for December — $138,000 more than […]