The state’s gaming commission has yet to shoot its shot.
“Can we all agree that we all know we can’t make a decision?” Commission Chair Kathy Judd-Stein asked during the Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s public meeting Wednesday.
The five-member body responsible for regulating the state’s gambling industry was meeting to consider the second of three casino-based sports betting applications they are to review this week when they again, for the second day in a row, delayed making a decision.
The first application, filed by Plainridge Park Casino, was derailed Tuesday after commissioners expressed concern with the affiliated sportsbook company’s relationship with Barstool Sports and its founder and spokesperson, Dave Portnoy.
That application, it seems, will have to wait to move forward until commissioners are convinced the mobile betting operator which will be attached to the physical casino, Penn Entertainment, can prevent Portnoy’s personality from driving irresponsible gambling practices or attracting too young an audience.
The second application, filed by MGM Springfield, will also have to wait after commissioners noticed a problem with the paperwork.
“At the end of the day, I mean the entire application refers to BetMGM, and so I don’t think we’re going to avoid, ultimately, waiting until BetMGM’s presentation next week before we deliberate on this application,” Commissioner Nakisha Skinner said toward the end of the commission’s nearly five-hour public meeting.
MGM Springfield is applying for a Category 1 license, which allows them to operate both a physical gaming space and have an affiliated mobile gaming partner, in their case with a company called BetMGM.
BetMGM’s application for a license to operate in Massachusetts will be considered next week. Until then, commissioners said, they simply won’t be able to approve what was presented by MGM Springfield, with many parts of their application reliant on the other.
“We should go back through the application where there is reference to the other application,” Judd-Stein said, acknowledging the work it would mean for commission staff.
“We have to get more information,” Commissioner Jordan Maynard said.
That’s either two outs or two hits, figuratively speaking.
The lawmakers that passed An Act Regulating Sports Wagering this summer, legalizing bets on professional and some college sports, thought it would take weeks to make the law into reality.
Commissioners quickly determined it would in fact take months for their staff to draft regulations and consider all of the many applications they expected. They were also clear they would not take the process lightly and wave any company through.
As it stands regulators hope to have in-person sports betting operational by the end of January and mobile betting live by early March.
Provided, of course, they eventually grant a license.