Encore posts record-high gambling revenues

Casino brings in $68.4m, split equally between slots, table games

By Bruce Mohl Casinos 0 Comments Jan 17, 2023

THE ENCORE BOSTON HARBOR casino in Everett posted record-high gambling revenues in December, propelled by money spent at the facility’s gaming tables. The large haul at Encore, combined with fairly strong revenues at MGM Springfield and Plainridge Park Casino in Plainville, yielded nearly $28.8 million in state tax revenues for December — $138,000 more than(...)

Start dates for in-person sports betting set

Soft launch set for January 30, public betting starts in February

By Colin A. Young Sports betting 0 Comments Dec 22, 2022

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE GAMING COMMISSION on Thursday narrowed the launch date for in-person sports betting in Massachusetts and it appears as if the first bets could be placed during a “soft launch” on Monday, January 30 by people hand-picked by the commission and the betting companies. The rollout that the commission discussed but(...)

Can casinos expand gaming beyond their original footprint?

Wynn is making the case for an across-the-street expansion

By Bruce Mohl Casinos 0 Comments Dec 16, 2022

IN FEBRUARY, Wynn Resorts proposed an entertainment complex across the street from its existing Everett casino, complete with a theater, bars and restaurants, a parking garage, and eventually additional hotels. At the time, Wynn urged the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to consider the entertainment complex as something separate and apart from its existing casino, and therefore(...)

Free sports bets? How to tax them?

To answer questions, Gaming Commission digs into legislative sausage making

By Colin A. Young sports gambling 0 Comments Dec 13, 2022

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE GAMING REGULATORS have reached no conclusions as to how they will treat, for tax purposes, the promotional betting offers that sports wagering companies dangle to attract customers, or whether they might seek to put responsible gaming guardrails around their use in Massachusetts. The primary question before the Gaming Commission was how to(...)

Sports betting could start in late Jan., maybe

Gaming Commission having tough time setting a timetable

By Colin A. Young Sports betting 0 Comments Oct 7, 2022

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AN EMERGENCY MEETING called Friday was still not enough for the members of the Gaming Commission to agree on actual dates for the potential launch of sports wagering here, but they were at least able to agree on broad windows of time for the start of in-person and mobile betting next(...)

Gaming Commission struggling with when to launch sports betting

Regulators float timeline to start placing bets in January

By Shira Schoenberg Sports betting 0 Comments Oct 7, 2022

ONE ADVANTAGE Massachusetts has in being late to legalize sports betting – 36th according to the American Gaming Commission – is it can learn from other states on how to stand up the industry. Research compiled by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission made clear that state regulators are looking closely at other states’ operations. One initial(...)

Lottery facing headwinds, sales down

Officials say lotteries across country are facing similar problems

By Colin A. Young 0 Comments Sep 27, 2022

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE AS ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY and an expanding menu of gambling options send lottery sales into a slide in Massachusetts and across the country, Massachusetts officials are thinking about making changes to “adjust to the current market structure” according to the head of the Lottery. Lottery sales in August were down $35.9 million,(...)

Sports betting regulators confront licensing quirks

Applicants say temp licenses, head starts don’t make sense

By Shira Schoenberg Gambling, Sports betting 0 Comments Sep 22, 2022

THERE’S AN ODD quirk in the law legalizing sports betting in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is allowed to license seven mobile sports betting apps, in addition to mobile apps that are tied to in-person gaming facilities like casinos and racetracks. But the law also lets the commission give an unlimited number of temporary mobile(...)

Casinos ready to go on sports betting

Regulatory process will take several months

By Shira Schoenberg Casinos, Sports betting 0 Comments Aug 19, 2022

AT A MEETING a meeting of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Thursday, the message from the state’s three casinos was clear: We’re ready to roll. To roll out sports betting, that is. The holdup, however, will be the length of time it takes the commission to develop and implement regulations for the brand new industry.(...)

A loud lament over the latest gambling embrace by state leaders

Lawrence’s Les Bernal says we’re just expanding state-sanctioned exploitation

By Michael Jonas Gambling, Les Bernal, Sports betting 0 Comments Aug 17, 2022

THERE WERE WHOOPS AND HOLLERS from DraftKings, the state’s casinos, and lawmakers as the state legalized sports betting earlier this month. For Les Bernal, it was not a moment to celebrate, but instead marked a new low in how far Massachusetts would go to draw in revenue by exploiting those most vulnerable to the addictive(...)