The Massachusetts Gaming Commission pumped the brakes Thursday morning on expectations that sports betting could be in place in time for the fall football season as some state lawmakers have suggested this week and instead urged people to consider the amount of regulatory work that needs to be done to set up a new industry.
Legislation legalizing sports wagering in Massachusetts is still pending on Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk, who has until Thursday, Aug. 11, to act on it after it cleared the state Legislature earlier this week. And during a virtual public meeting, gaming commissioners said there are numerous steps that will have to be taken in the event Baker signs the bill into law before Bay Staters can start betting on their favorite sports team.
In an effort to temper expectations, Commissioner Brad Hill said he wants the public to understand that implementing and standing up a new wagering industry will not happen overnight. Hill said in order for the group to get sports betting right, “we need to take our time.”
“I want the public to understand, as we as commissioners are starting to understand, that this isn’t something that’s going to happen overnight,” the former state representative said. “I’ve seen some quotes in the newspaper from the public and others that they hope to have this thing up and running in a very, very short amount of time. And I just want the public to be clear, at least from my view, I’m not speaking for the whole commission, but from my point of view, this is going to take a little longer than people probably anticipate. And I’m ok with that.”
Legislators came to a last-minute deal on sports betting earlier this week as the end of formal lawmaking for the 2021-2022 session came to a close. The bill before Baker authorizes sports betting in Massachusetts, including on some college games, and grants the Gaming Commission large authority to breathe life into the burgeoning industry.
All eyes have been on Baker ever since the Legislature voted the bill through, and while he has expressed support for the measure in the past, there have not been any indications on when he may sign it into law. But two state senators who led the charge on sports betting said earlier this week that they hoped legalized betting would be up and running this fall, just in time for football.
Pointing to preparations the Gaming Commission made in anticipation of Baker approving a sports betting bill, Sen. Eric Lesser said the commission is “prepared to get to work to begin implementation.”
“So I do think that it’ll be, you know, hopefully, this fall,” the Longmeadow Democrat previously said in an interview with MassLive.
The Senate’s chief budget writer and lead sports betting negotiator, Sen. Michael Rodrigues, said Monday that betting could “hopefully” start this fall.
“Yeah, I think it will be,” the Westport Democrat said when asked if sports betting will be up and running in time for football season. “Hopefully. You can bet on in-state football teams, so you can bet on the Patriots.”
But during the Gaming Commission meeting Thursday morning, the regulators that could soon be in charge of creating the sports betting industry in Massachusetts outlined a process that could take months, potentially stretching into next year.
“I just want our fellow Bay Staters to know that the staff here at the commission has definitely been preparing for this but they’re going to have to look at the legislation,” Commissioner Jordan Maynard said. “It’s going to take some time to look at this, but we are prepared, and we have been looking at it.”
Hill again emphasized the process “just doesn’t happen overnight.”
“I think our public needs to understand that there is going to be a process that we need to go through, not only with licensing but certifying those who come before us,” he said.
Gaming Commission staff started to outline an application process for potential licensees, with timeline estimates ranging from three to six months. Executive Assistant Jaclynn Knecht said the application process could take only a few months, depending on what commissioners want to include in an application.
“There are some jurisdictions that do it simply on the application that is submitted, there are some that offer each applicant a potential oral presentation to present their entire application,” she said. “The general consensus on the application timeline is somewhere between three and six months for each jurisdiction. There are some that are very short, and there are some that are much longer than that.”
And outside of the application process for licensees — whether they are seeking one of seven mobile sports betting licenses, or in-person approval at a casino, race track, or simulcasting venue — the commission will need to draft and issue a lengthy list of potential regulations.
Gaming Commission General Counsel Todd Grossman said the regulations will ultimately serve as a how-to manual for sports wagering companies.
“An effective regulatory scheme ultimately will be clear, comprehensive, and fair, and will offer a precise framework for all essential components of attaining licensure and operating in a regulated environment,” he said.
Deputy General Counsel Caitlin Monahan said attorneys at the commission have come up with 225 different potential regulations, from how wagers are submitted to technology standards and specifics on the application process to adjudicatory hearings.
It’s a lot, she acknowledged, and lawyers have created a three-tier system to prioritize which regulations should be addressed first.
“You may be asking yourself, well, ‘how are you going to get through 225 regulations?’” she said. “We have to prioritize them in some way, shape, or form. So we have created three priority tiers of our regulations. Priority tier one is the ones that we’ll tackle first, priority tier two, second.”
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