In-Person Sports Betting Launches in Massachusetts, Mobile Market by March

• On Tuesday, the MA Retail Sports Gambling Market Opened for Business

• MA Gaming Commission Now Granting Mobile Licenses, March Launch Anticipated

• Sports Betting Expected to Earn Millions in Annual Tax Revenue for Massachusetts

On Tuesday, the MA Retail Sports Gambling Market Opened for Business

Even though Massachusetts was the third U.S. state to legalize sports betting last year, it took until yesterday for that retail market to launch, which it did starting at 10:00 a.m. at Plainridge Park Casino in Plainville, MGM Springfield, and Encore Boston Harbor in Everett.

That’s according to WCVB, the Boston news channel that reported on the long-anticipated launch of Massachusetts’s sports gambling market, with residents now able to legally bet on everything from the upcoming Super Bowl (February 12) to less obvious events:

“The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) voted to allow wagering for things like professional league drafts, the big game MVP awards, competitive eating contests, and competitive entertainment events like the Academy Awards.”

Now the Codfish State joins the other over thirty states that have already legalized this popular activity that, up until Tuesday’s launch, had to resort to other means to handle their betting action, including illegal bookies, unregulated offshore sportsbooks, and neighboring states.

The U.S. legal sports betting market has quickly become a multi-billion dollar industry that finally allows states to regulate and tax that action, redirecting that cash flow back homewards, a new cash cow that has been used to fund programs that benefit each gambling state.

Next on Massachusetts’ to-do list is to put a mobile option in play.

MA Gaming Commission Now Granting Mobile Licenses, March Launch Anticipated

It has been proven by the other states already in the sports betting game that between in-person and mobile betting, the online option is the more lucrative avenue because apparently, most bettors prefer to make their bets from the comfort of their own couches.

According to WCVB, mobile sports betting is expected to launch in Massachusetts at some point in March, giving the MGC about two months to finish issuing licenses to operate and ensuring that bettors will be enjoying safe and efficient transactions with those sportsbooks.

In Massachusetts, you must be at least 21 years old to play, and gambling on high school and youth sports or athletic events where the final outcome is primarily based on the evaluation or assessment of a judge or panel of judges is prohibited, which means the Olympics are out.

Also not allowed, reports WCVB, are wagers on any sports or sporting event overseen by Russian or Belarusian governing bodies, leagues, events, and players, yet despite that list of limitations, this market is expected to make big money for the state.

Sports Betting Expected to Earn Millions in Annual Tax Revenue for Massachusetts

It takes warm bodies to gamble, and Massachusetts has almost 7 million of those residing within its borders, ranked the 16th most populous state, and the sports bettors among them are expected to generate a handle that will compete with the other top betting markets.

States like New York and New Jersey and Pennsylvania have legal sports betting markets that are creating nine-figure tax revenue streams that now benefit the state, and Massachusetts is expected to pull in a similar amount, welcomed money in a state with bills to pay.

Massachusetts joins a budding industry that has generated a combined handle of $188 billion since its inception in May 2018, and there is no telling how big a market that New England state filled with rabid sports fans will produce.