The Massachusetts sports activities betting convention committee reached frequent floor simply hours earlier than the state legislature was set to adjourn for its 2022 session.
Home Speaker Ron Mariano (D-Third Norfolk) introduced the information of a sports activities betting compromise on Twitter.
I’m proud to announce that the Sports activities Betting Convention Committee has reached an settlement on laws that may legalize wagering on skilled and collegiate sports activities in Massachusetts, bringing the immense financial advantages of a authorized sports activities betting trade to MA. (1/2)
— Speaker Ron Mariano (@RonMariano) August 1, 2022
The settlement got here after state lawmakers pushed their midnight ET August 1 session deadline by 5 hours to five:00 am. The additional time allowed the sports activities betting convention committee to finalize its compromise.
Since early June, the convention committee has labored to discover a decision to the Senate and Home variations on the expanded gaming problem.
Most divisive was the Senate’s desire to exclude all school sports activities from authorized sportsbooks. Home reps stated that might enable the unregulated and untaxed offshore sports activities betting web sites and underground bookies to proceed thriving within the Commonwealth.
Faculty Sports activities Resolve
The Massachusetts sports activities betting convention committee consisted of three senators and three Home representatives.
The sports activities betting invoice the Senate handed adhered to calls from college presidents and athletics administrators that authorized sports activities betting within the state may jeopardize the integrity of school sports activities. However the chamber’s convention reps ultimately agreed to permit betting on some school sports activities.
The joint decision permits playing on school sports activities, as long as the sport doesn’t embrace a faculty primarily based in Massachusetts or is being held contained in the commonwealth. There’s additionally a caveat for March Insanity, permitting oddsmakers to take motion on Massachusetts colleges that make the boys’s and girls’s NCAA school basketball tournaments.
The Senate invoice got here out with no school in any respect — the Home had full school. That’s the way you get issues executed, attain a compromise,” stated Sen. Michael Rodrigues (D-1st Bristol), who was one of many Senate convention committee designees.
The Home additionally acquired its means on taxes. The Home sought to maintain the efficient tax fee on sports activities betting income decrease than the Senate model — 12.5% on retail and 15% on-line. The Senate sports activities betting measure sought 20% on in-person sports activities wagering revenue and 35% on-line.
The convention committee settled on a 15% tax on brick-and-mortar sportsbooks and 20% on on-line operations.
The state’s three casinos will qualify for on-site sports activities betting privileges. The legislation may also enable every on line casino to companion with as much as two third-party on-line sportsbook operators.
Baker Anticipated to Signal
The Massachusetts Legislature signed off on the sports activities betting compromise this morning. The Senate and Home can’t amend convention committee resolutions however should vote in favor of a compromise earlier than the invoice can go to the governor.
With approval acquired in every chamber, the sports activities betting measure now goes to Gov. Charlie Baker’s (R) desk, the place he’s anticipated to signal the laws. If he does, sports activities betting within the commonwealth will grow to be authorized. The primary authorized wager, nonetheless, is probably going weeks or months away.
The Massachusetts Gaming Fee (MGC) will work to ascertain governing situations and safeguards. However MGC Chair Cathy Judd-Stein stated the fee has been doing so practically because the Could 2018 Supreme Court docket repeal of the federal legislation that had restricted sports activities playing to Nevada.
“We really feel actually assured that with all of the due diligence we’re doing … we’ll have the ability to get these laws in place nimbly and we’ll have the ability to [soon] begin issuing licenses,” Judd-Stein stated in April of the potential sports activities betting allowance.