The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) has voted to give six online sports operators temporary licenses to operate in the Bay State. Bally Bet, FanDuel, DraftKings, Betway, PointsBet and Betr will be allowed to start accepting bets in early March.
Massachusetts officially legalized sports betting in August 2022, but this decision only encompassed brick-and-mortar establishments; in-person sports betting is scheduled to launch at the end of January.
The votes for five of the operators were unanimous, while the commission voted 4-1 to find Betr, Jake Paul and Joey Levy’s micro-betting application, suitable for a temporary license.
The MGC spent the past few weeks pouring over applications from each of the companies – some of which ran over a thousand pages. This emulated the process by which the commission took a cautious approach to sports betting licenses for the state’s three casinos and their affiliated mobile offerings.
Massachusett state law allows the MGC to award up to seven mobile or digital sports wagering licenses. Only six companies submitted full applications, leaving one spot for an online operator up for grabs.
In a post to social media, DraftKings CEO Jason Robins applauded state House Speaker Ronald Mariano, whose chamber, along with the Senate, passed Massachusetts’ sports betting law in August 2022.
This followed years of its stalling at Beacon Hill. The bill’s passage was forced with protracted negotiations and came at the last minute before formal legislative sessions ended for the year.
DraftKings CEO Jason Robins commented: “If like me, you’re excited about legal mobile sports betting coming to MA, you should know Speaker Mariano was instrumental in making it happen.”
