Massachusetts Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, is urging that the state make online gambling legal and enable the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to grant licenses to Massachusetts casinos to offer it.
Tarr has introduced a bill that he says would help the new casinos to successfully open. Due to increasing competition in New England, Tarr apparently feels that casinos such as the MGM Springfield and the Wynn Everett need a leg up. Online gaming would allow them to lasso a larger share of gaming dollars.
Massachusetts is entering into a gaming market that already includes Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine and New York, which is a recipe for a saturated market, say some industry experts.
“We don’t want them to be undermined by other states that allow it,” said Tarr. The bill does not authorize the casinos to offer fantasy sports.
The casino operators are not sure they want this favor, according to Chris Moyer, a spokesman for the American Gaming Association. “There’s varying interest from the industry,” he CNHI. “There’s some who view it as a way to attract more people, and others who see it as possibly decreasing the number of customers to land-based casinos.”
Before it’s done, Massachusetts will have three resort casinos and a slots parlor, and very likely an Indian casino in Taunton.
The first to open was the $225 million Plainridge Park racino slots parlor, which is owned and operated by Penn National Gaming in Plainville. It opened in June. The $950 million MGM Springfield is expected to open in 2018. The largest of the expected casinos is the $1.7 billion Wynn Everett, which is planned to open across the Mystic River from Boston.
Only three states, Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey, offer online gaming.
