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Politics, ideas, and civic life in Massachusetts

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Gambling

Posted inBy The Numbers

Sports betting is soaking ‘financially constrained’ households

Headshot of Michael Jonas, Executive Editor at CommonWealth Beacon. by Michael Jonas August 21, 2024August 27, 2024

The study linked sports betting to “a large decrease” in deposits to brokerage accounts, accompanied by “decreased credit availability, increased credit card debt, and a higher incidence rate of overdrawing bank accounts.”

Posted inGambling

Mass. Gaming Commission studying online casino games, AI use

Headshot of Jennifer Smith, reporter at CommonWealth Beacon. by Jennifer Smith May 16, 2024May 16, 2024

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is trying to get its arms around the technological future of gambling – seeking bids for research into the potential impacts of “iGaming” and the use of artificial intelligence in the gaming industry.

Posted inBy The Numbers

Poll indicates young people aren’t betting on sports as much as feared

Headshot of Jennifer Smith, reporter at CommonWealth Beacon. by Jennifer Smith April 9, 2024April 10, 2024

One year into legalized sports gambling and growing concern about its impact on the young, a new CommonWealth Beacon/GBH News poll doesn’t paint a clear-cut apocalyptic picture. 

Posted inGambling

Lottery hits jackpot on all fronts

by Colin A. Young // State House News Service July 25, 2023July 31, 2024

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE IN THE FISCAL YEAR that ended June 30, the Massachusetts Lottery brought in more revenue than ever before, paid out more in prizes than any previous year, and expects to return a record high profit of $1.176 billion for the state to dole out to all 351 communities as local aid, […]

Posted inEconomy

A race to keep up – or to the bottom?

Headshot of Michael Jonas, Executive Editor at CommonWealth Beacon. by Michael Jonas June 1, 2023October 30, 2023

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 […]

Posted inEconomy

A race to keep up – or to the bottom? Lottery bets big on $50 scratch ticket, online games.

Headshot of Michael Jonas, Executive Editor at CommonWealth Beacon. by Michael Jonas June 1, 2023September 6, 2023

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 […]

Posted inGambling

Gaming Commission asks feds to shut down illegal gambling

Headshot of Jennifer Smith, reporter at CommonWealth Beacon. by Jennifer Smith May 31, 2023May 31, 2023

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 inGambling

Sports betting regulators confront licensing quirks

by Shira Schoenberg September 22, 2022

THERE’S AN ODD quirk in the law legalizing sports betting in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is allowed to license seven mobile sports betting apps, in addition to mobile apps that are tied to in-person gaming facilities like casinos and racetracks. But the law also lets the commission give an unlimited number of temporary mobile […]

Posted inGambling

A loud lament over the latest gambling embrace by state leaders 

Headshot of Michael Jonas, Executive Editor at CommonWealth Beacon. by Michael Jonas August 17, 2022August 17, 2022

THERE WERE WHOOPS AND HOLLERS from DraftKings, the state’s casinos, and lawmakers as the state legalized sports betting earlier this month. For Les Bernal, it was not a moment to celebrate, but instead marked a new low in how far Massachusetts would go to draw in revenue by exploiting those most vulnerable to the addictive […]

Posted inGambling

Questions continue on lack of sports betting roll call in Senate

by Katie Lannan May 2, 2022October 30, 2023

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 […]

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