Rep. Joe Wagner, the Massachusetts legislature’s go-to man for all things gaming-related, said last week that a sports betting bill could be ready to be voted on in early 2019.
The interval will allow the House enough time to research sports betting, said Wagner, who is the chairman of the Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, said during a TV interview. He told WGBY-TV’s “Connecting Point” that he and House Speaker Robert DeLeo had spoken several times about sports betting since the Supreme Court lifted the ban last month.
The Speaker previously said he doubted the House could act before the end of this year’s session on July 31.
“The approach here is to move this to the front burner but to not move so quickly that we get it wrong,” Wagner commented. “It won’t be taken up perhaps for formal action in this [session] but the work will begin immediately. The work has already begun.”
Wagner said he didn’t think the state was lagging even though other states may be ahead in legalizing. He pointed out that in the case of neighboring Rhode Island that Governor Gina Raimondo has included money in the budget from sports betting even though lawmakers have yet to act to legalize it.
“We will get about the work of this quickly so that when we do convene for the 2019-2020 session we can be ready to go,” said Wagner. “That would be the hope and the potential game plan.”
Earlier this year the Massachusetts Gaming Commission cited a study by the American Gaming Association that estimated the Bay State could collect about $8.6 million in taxes from brick and mortar sports betting—i.e. without an online element—at a 6.75 percent rate and as much as $61.3 million if sports betting was allowed at all casinos, retail locations and online, with a tax rate of 15 percent.
