It took three sports betting applications for the state’s gaming commission to find one that met their standards.

“Congratulations to Encore,” Commissioner Nakisha Skinner said.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission met for the third time this week to consider a casino based sports betting license Thursday, when they unanimously approved Encore Boston Harbor as the state’s first fully licensed sports betting operator.

“Thank you so much, we can’t tell you how excited we are,” Jacqui Krum, senior vice president and general counsel for Encore Boston said. “We know this has been a lot of work.”

The first application, for Plainridge Park Casino, was halted due to an affiliation with Barstool Sports and concerns the commissioners expressed with that company’s spokesperson, Dave Portnoy.

The second, for MGM Springfield, will have to wait until at least next week for full review after the company answered too many parts of their application with instructions to look at a separate application filed by their mobile partner, BetMGM.

Thursday’s completed application review and approval means the state has finally, for the first time since An Act Regulating Sports Wagering was signed into law this summer by Gov. Charlie Baker, recognized a company as sufficiently compliant with the new industry’s rules to begin, eventually, taking bets on professional and out of state college sports contests.

“I think this is great for the commonwealth,” Commissioner Jordan Maynard said.

The Commission is targeting the start of sports betting in “late January,”  but only at physical gaming locations.

Online betting, an entirely new industry to the state, will not begin until March, with mobile license applications due for review next week.

“I’m very pleased that we built the sportsbook when we did and very pleased that we get to use it as a sportsbook,” Krum said.

Regulators have been rushing to establish the rules that will govern the new industry but have cautioned from the start that they would not be hurried in their work. Tuesday and Wednesday’s application curveballs seemed to indicate the commission would be hard on even the three experienced gambling companies in the state, its licensed casinos.

With Thursday’s vote, sports betting in Massachusetts moves closer to opening day.

“I want to thank the applicant, I want to thank you for the thoroughness of your application,” Commission Chair Cathy Judd-Stein said.