Status of Sports Betting in Massachusetts
Last year, a sports betting bill passed the House, but stalled in the Senate. Aside from policy disagreements between the chambers, the Senate President was the key opponent to moving a bill last year.
The lead advocate for sports betting in the Senate (Sen. Lesser) announced recently that he will run for Lt. Governor and plans to make sports betting legalization something he pushes for ahead of the November elections.
Lawmakers are pushing to get the bill heard in the Senate Ways and Means Committee and then potentially voted on in the Senate in the early part of 2022. The Senate bill will likely differ from the House-passed bill and will require a conference committee to hash out the differences.
There are several areas of dissention between the House / Senate including: collegiate betting; tax rate; credit card ban; official league data; integrity fees, and market access.
iDEA has been speaking to key Senators including Lesser and Rodrigues, and providing our perspective on several of the outstanding issues. We will continue our advocacy efforts as 2022 session begins.