Regulators from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission said they are confident the public will be able to place in-person sports bets by the end of the month.
On Tuesday, the MGC held public hearings for all those who applied for a gambling license, whether it was for a retail sportsbook location or online sports wagering.
To try and meet their self-imposed deadline of January 31 for in-person betting, the MGC has had a flurry of meetings to finish up their review of sports betting applications.
On January 17-19 the commission was either holding public meetings or meeting to hash out details for the operators, including casinos and slots parlors, who have applied to offer sports wagering.
“After today, we will begin our overall determination of the applicants as a whole and that will begin starting late tomorrow afternoon into the next day and ending, likely ending, on Friday,” Chairwoman Cathy Judd-Stein told local media January 17.
While the commission looks like it should be on schedule with in-person sports betting, the online component looks like it won’t happen before March at the earliest.
Six operators—DraftKings, Bally’s, Betway, PointsBet, betr, and FanDuel—were approved for untethered mobile licenses. They join five other sportsbooks that will be tied to casinos. They are Barstool and Fanatics, affiliates of Penn National, BetMGM, WynnBet, and Caesars.
One operator that won’t be ready by March, even though they got a license, is Betway. The company is part of Digital Gaming Corp., which is being acquired by Super Group. That merger will delay Betway’s approval, as the MGC now wants to review Super Group.
“We’re committed to Massachusetts and appreciate the opportunity to refile and resubmit, and it is our sincere want to address the challenge of timing, so we will be in touch in due course,” Betway Digital Gaming Executive Vice President for North American Operations Bruce Watermeyer told the commission.
