Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker supported sports betting legalization in the state during Super Bowl LVI. Gov. Baker promoted sports gaming on Twitter on Sunday, during the NFL season’s final game, traditionally the single most-bet sporting event in the US.
“We filed a bill in 2019 and again last year to make sports gaming legal. Massachusetts is losing out to neighboring states on this, especially during big games,” Gov. Baker tweeted. “Enjoy the Super Bowl, and let’s make sports gaming happen!”
This is not the first time the Massachusetts Governor has shown support for sports betting legalization in the Bay State. Last month, Baker said he would be “happy” to sign a bill legalizing the market should lawmakers pass one this session. Baker’s second term is set to end this year, and the Governor announced in December he would not seek re-election.
We filed a bill in 2019 and again last year to make sports gaming legal. MA is losing out to neighboring states on this, especially during big games.
Enjoy the Super Bowl, and let’s make sports gaming happen!
— Charlie Baker (@MassGovernor) February 13, 2022
“There are many things that would make me happy before I leave office, if I have the chance to sign them,” Baker told reporters at the State House a day before his final State of the Commonwealth address, in January. “One of them would certainly be a sports betting bill.”
Baker said that passing a sports bill would open a burgeoning market for the state and recalled that, along with Lieutenant Gov. Karyn Polito, he filed legislation to that end several years ago. They both filed a second bill after that.
“I know it’s a difficult issue with a lot of elements to it,” admitted Baker last month. “And it would be my hope, of course, that our colleagues in the House and Senate would find a way to get to ‘yes’ on that before the end of the legislative session.”
State lawmakers have suggested Massachusetts is losing millions of dollars in tax revenue as residents drive to place bets in states that have already legalized the market. Four out of five neighboring states already allow sports gaming.
Wynn’s Encore Boston Harbor, MGM Springfield, and Plainridge Park -the state’s three commercial casinos- have all urged officials to allow betting on sports, claiming the current prohibition on this form of wagering puts them at a competitive disadvantage with venues in neighboring states.
Last Thursday, Crystal Howard, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s chief administrative officer and special projects manager, said the commission is “monitoring for any action on sports betting,” according to the State House News Service.
Sports gaming has been hung up in the Legislature since the House voted overwhelmingly in July to legalize it. A similar Senate bill has been pending before the Senate Ways and Means Committee for months now, proving there is no rush in approving sports betting in the Old Colony State.
The chief administrative officer also reminded commissioners that the House has adopted an amendment to the sports bill which would add “a lot of complexity” to the Commission’s work. The legislation would allow veterans organizations to operate gaming establishments “with no table games and not more than 5 slot machines” if they secure “a limited slot machine license.”
Massachusetts Capitol House
“We’re really interested in what happens there,” Howard said. The amendment was filed by Rep. Paul McMurtry of Dedham, and adopted by the House without discussion last July. It directs the Gaming Commission to set the regulations, including an application process, although it is not expected to survive if a sports betting bill moves to the Gov.’s desk.
The state House has voted twice to authorize sports betting in the last two years, but the proposal hasn’t emerged in the Senate for discussion. However, commissioner Brad Hill said he is “optimistic” legislation will get done this session.
“I still feel — and I’m making an opinion, not a fact —I think we’re really going to see something before July 31, and when it comes, it’s going to come quickly,” Hill said, according to 1420 WBSM. “And I know the staff is preparing for that and have done a good job of getting ready should that happen.”
