Deborah Goldberg is all for getting the sports betting market up and running in Massachusetts. However, the state treasurer also wants assurances the regulations will protect the lottery.
“While lawmakers project that sports wagering will generate $60 million in state revenue each year, only $16.5 million, or 27.5 percent, will be earmarked for unrestricted local aid,” Goldberg told the Boston Herald. “By contrast, the Lottery produced approximately $1.1 billion for our cities and towns just last year.”
Numbers don’t lie. Goldberg requested that sports betting applicants present a plan that can reduce negative impacts on the Lottery prior to receiving a license. What’s more, she wants the sportsbook to partner with the lottery in both in-person and online cross-promotion, according to Yogonet Gaming News.
The regulatory approach is similar to the regulations in place for existing gaming licensees, and Goldberg said that has worked to everyone’s benefit.
She also wants both the Treasurer’s office and lottery to head a feasibility study into whether retail operations should operate wagering kiosks. And she wants the Lottery to be available online.
Goldberg’s extensive wish list comes as regulators have taken a deliberate approach to approving regulations, one where integrity is primary.
“Our process will play out as it would have whenever this law came to the Gaming Commission to regulate, and we will not compromise getting this right for anything,” Commission Chair Cathy Judd-Stein said, according to MassLive. “With that said, we also are aware of the importance of timing.”
At the latest Gaming Commission (MGC) meeting, a major study of the social and economic impacts of gambling in Massachusetts revealed a disparity between state lottery revenue and that expected from sports betting, which served to support Goldberg’s petition.
Judd-Stein justified streamlined emergency regulations to create a faster process that would trim the comment period prior to regulations taking effect.
In related news, a recent study indicated that some 20 percent of Massachusetts residents already bet on sports, an increase of 7 percent since 2014.
“We know that Massachusetts is quite a sports crazy state already,” said Rachel A. Volberg, a University of Massachusetts Amherst professor and the principal investigator on two major studies funded by the MGC.
What’s more, sports betting is available in every neighboring state except Vermont, according to MassLive.
“People in Massachusetts have been bombarded by that advertising even though sports betting is not legal here,” said Volberg.
The other source is illegal wagers through offshore sportsbooks.
Volberg said research indicates sports bettors may have a higher incidence of problem gambling, because they usually partake in other types of gambling, like lotteries or casinos.
“Maximizing benefits and minimizing harm starts with good tools and then those tools have to be implemented,” she added.
The MGC has things like Play My Way, an online budgeting tool that helps gamblers know when they’ve had enough. The commission also requires and promotes GameSense, an online and in-person educational program that reminds gamblers when to walk away.
There are also voluntary self-exclusion programs.
“Now we are going to have presumably additional operators, new to the market,” Volberg said. “We don’t know how these new operators will implement safeguards. With so many voices promoting sports betting, the health message gets drowned out.”
As part of its role associated with deciding the regulations for sports betting, the MGC met with a panel of experts on the subject of problem gaming, according to the Boston Herald.
“This was very informative. I’ve taken more notes today than I think I’ve ever taken in my years’ time here,” Commissioner Brad Hill said.
