BOSTON – The Senate voted Thursday to approve the bill that would legalize sports betting in the state, reaching a consensus that had been elusive until recently.
The bill approved on a voice vote would allow people over 21 to wager on sporting events through licensed establishments and digital platforms. The Gaming Commission will be in charge of regulating bets across the state and issuing licenses.
State Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, Senate chairman of the Economic Development Committee, who has also spearheaded efforts to legalize sports betting, noted in an interview prior to the Senate session how he thinks legalizing sports betting in the state will prove beneficial.
“Every state around us has it already. At the end of the day, we can’t just be an island, we have to be in sync with our region,” Lesser said. “I also think we have learned a lot over the last four years about what works and what doesn’t work. The version [of the bill] we have crafted is going to create a very good product for people and will have very strong consumer protection.”
Massachusetts will look to join other neighboring states like New York, Rhode Island, and Connecticut that have passed similar legislation and have reaped the benefits through the additional stream of revenue legalized betting brings.
The House already passed its version of the bill last summer with a 156-3 vote. The bill will now advance to a six-member conference committee that will look to iron out the stark differences between the two versions.
The most contentious issue between the two versions would be the inclusion of collegiate sports betting. The House version allows the option to wager on college sports, while the Senate bill is against it.
“It’s a difficult subject. We understand that it will probably be best to not allow college [sports] betting, but at the same time, we know that that betting is already occurring,” said state Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, D-Northampton. “So, it’s kind of a situation — do we pretend that people are not placing bets on college sports because we do not want those negative repercussions, or do we just include it because we know it’s already happening.”
State Sen. Patrick O’Connor, R-Weymouth, proposed amendments during the Senate debate that would allow collegiate betting and include e-sports in the bill but ended up withdrawing the amendments without comment.
The revenue stream that the state is expecting will be significantly affected based on whether college sports are included. The House version with collegiate sports included is expected to generate approximately $60 million annually. The Senate version will only be able to generate $35 million, according to the Senate Ways and Means Committee’s evaluation.
Another issue of debate would be the percentage of taxes that will be imposed on wagering establishments. The Senate has proposed high taxes, a rate of 20% of gross wagering receipts for in-person betting and 35% for digital bets. Conversely, the House proposed 12.5% for in-person betting and 15% for betting online.
The use of credit cards to place bets also has been a topic of active debate. The Senate is against it because of concerns that people with gambling dispositions might abuse it and ramp up mass debts. The House has allowed the use the credit cards but has adopted a different approach to tackle concerns.
“I had filed amendments during the House debate to offer some level of protection. One of the amendments was that we wanted to warn people about using credit cards for placing bets online,” Sabadosa said. “Most people don’t know this, I certainly didn’t, that if you use credit cards to gamble online, you are immediately charged a higher interest rate as if it were a cash loan. It is a 25-30% charge, and there is no grace period, so the amount is due immediately. And people don’t know that, and they can end up with huge debts. That is why we wanted to make sure it was included in the bill.”
The conference committee will aim to draft the final version of the bill before the July 31 deadline.
Aryan Rai writes for the Gazette from the Boston University Statehouse Program.