Massachusetts Gaming Commission Update
After a very long Massachusetts Gaming Commission meeting, they recently adjourned/recessed until tomorrow (Friday, October 7th) at noon.
Here are the meeting highlights:
*A proposed “aggressive launch” timeline was presented to the Commissioners by the Commission’s Executive Director. In the document, it targeted Category 1 (retail) launch by January of 2023 and Category 3 (mobile) by February of 2023. It was stated that this was the earliest that the categories could launch. However, after much discussion, there were no votes taken on a staggered v. simultaneous launch or a potential timeline or potential launch date. However, there seems to be a push to at least get retail stood up and launched before the Super Bowl.
*Derek Lennon, who is the chief financial officer of the Commission, revealed that the daily fantasy sports tax rate will be 15% on adjusted gross revenue.
*Operators will pay taxes on the 15th of each month for the prior month. If the 15th falls on a weekend, operators will pay earlier.
*The Commission did take a couple votes today:
- The Commission voted to approve the Operator and Vendor Scope of Licensing Initial Scoping Survey. This is due back to the Commission by October 17th. Potential operators and vendors are to fill this out.
- The Commission voted to approve the Regulations Concerning Applications for Category 1, 2 and 3 licenses under emergency procedures.
- The Commission voted to approve the applications forms for Category 1, 2, and 3 licenses under emergency procedures and post them for comment.
All of these documents should be posted on the Massachusetts Gaming Commission website (massgaming.com) very soon.