The Massachusetts Senate has passed a bill to legalize sports betting statewide, with the condition that bettors are still prohibited from wagering on college sports.
The question of whether the state should legalize sports betting has been on the table for several months. The House passed Bill H3993 by a vote of 156 to 3 last July. Since last summer, the approved sports betting bill had remained lodged in the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The bill arrived there within the same week as another legalization proposal Senator Eric Lesser sponsored, which was approved by the Economic Development Committee.
Sports betting would generate an estimated $35m in annual state revenue if the bill is signed into law, according to Senate Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues.
Rodrigues commented: “This bill maximizes benefits to the Commonwealth and minimizes harm to consumers and to the general public. We are bringing sports betting into the light of day.
“We in the Senate spent a lot of time thinking about a bill that achieves those three overarching goals of maximizing revenue, promoting economic development and establishing the strongest consumer protection measures. I think we hit it on the head.”
House and Governor Charlie Baker said: “This is one of those things that we should try and get done by the end of the year, and I’m glad the Senate’s taking it up.”
Baker has filed his own bill to legalize state sports betting.
Senator Eric Lesser said the bill the Senate passed was worth the wait. He commented: “Because we waited, we learned a lot. We learned what works, what doesn’t work, what you need to do to make sure you have a competitive market and a high-quality product for consumers.
“We learned a lot about what you need to do to mitigate the problems around addiction and risky behavior.”
Since the Supreme Court repealed PASPA in 2018, online gambling is currently available in 32 states, with 18 of those allowing for legal online sports wagering. According to the US Census Bureau, those jurisdictions represent more than 166.9 million people.
Four of the five states surrounding Massachusetts have also legalized sports wagering.
