Massachusetts Considers Stricter Sports Betting Regulations Under New Bill

A new bill being proposed by a group of Massachusetts lawmakers aims to set strict new limits on sports gambling.

Sen. John Keenan, of Quincy, pitched his “Bettor Health Act” at a forum Wednesday at the State House. The bill seeks to increase the tax rate on online betting platforms, ban sports betting advertising during game broadcasts, require online sports betting companies to double their financial contributions to the state’s Public Health Trust Fund, and more. He likened the rise of online betting to the emergence of the opioid crisis.

“If we don’t see the similarities, we’re going to find ourselves again so far behind trying so hard to create an infrastructure to address it,” Keenan said about the need to start addressing the problem before it gets out of hand.

Regulations within Keenan’s bill include:

  • Increasing the corporate revenue tax for online sports betting companies from 20% to 51%.This change would raise the tax to the same levels as in New York, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.
  • Prohibit sports betting advertising during broadcasts of sporting events and advertisements containing language that misrepresents a customer’s odds at winning.
  • Require online sports betting companies double their financial contributions to the Commonwealth’s Public Health Trust Fund, which supports gambling addiction treatment services.
  • Prohibit sports betting operators from paying employees based on a percentage of how much they convince a customer to bet, effectively doing away with predatory “host” employees.
  • Ban “in-play” and “proposition” bets, which public health experts warn are designed to promote addictive behaviors.
  • Add sports agents and promoters to the list of those prohibited from wagering on sporting events.
  • Limit how much people can bet each day unless gambling operators conduct affordability checks on customers to determine they have sufficient funds.
  • Direct the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to research the links between problem gambling and suicide.
  • Require online sports betting operators to provide the state with anonymized customer data on betting activities, including wager amounts and frequency, so qualified researchers can study problem gambling.

The Massachusetts Legislature and former Gov. Charlie Baker, now president of the NCAA, legalized sports betting in August 2022 and it went live in early 2023.

Massachusetts requires that people be at least 21 years old to bet on sports and sports betting companies are supposed to have mechanisms in place to know who is betting and to identify when someone may be exhibiting signs of dangerous behavior.

According to The Boston Globe, Massachusetts residents have wagered over $13 billion on sports betting platforms since mobile sports platforms went live in the state in March 2023. Calls to the state’s problem gambling helpline have also risen sharply, with over 3,000 calls in fiscal year 2023, up from 1,379 the prior year.

Among monthly gamblers who participated in online surveys conducted in 2014, 2022 and 2023, the percentage experiencing gambling problems jumped from 12.7% in 2014 to 20.9% in 2022 and to 25.6% in 2023, the Social and Economic Impacts of Gambling in Massachusetts research team reported to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission last year.

Gambling industry representatives balked at the proposal, saying that if approved, sports betting in Massachusetts would be more heavily regulated than in any other state.

“Data shows that problem gambling rates remain low since the rise of legal sports betting, consumer protections on the legal market are stronger than ever, and that most people spend less per month on sports betting than they spend in a week on their morning Starbucks,” Nathan Click, a spokesperson for the Sports Betting Alliance, told the Globe.

Rep. Carole Fiola, of Fall River, one of the hosts of Wednesday’s forum, spoke about a bill she filed that aims to study the current resources available to people with gambling problems and identify ways to improve coordination and promotion of those programs.

“We know that there are several organizations and facilitators working very hard in this space to increase access to these treatment areas, problem gambling treatment, and it’s imperative that these organizations work together to provide the best services for those in need,” she said. “This legislation also wants to expand physician screening coverage for annual physicals to create another touch point for individuals to reach out. I’m proposing adding a screening question for problem gambling, the same way physicians already asked about alcohol consumption and drug use at a physical.”

Rep. Adam Scanlon, of North Attleborough, who also hosted the forum, said he plans to soon file a bill to address problem gambling.

“Like most of you, I do not oppose all gambling,” he said. “But like many of you, I do want to make sure that all of these benefits we see do not come at the expense of those who are most vulnerable to addiction.”

Former state Rep. David Nangle, of Lowell, a recovering gambling addict, also spoke at Wednesday’s briefing on problem gambling. He was indicted by federal prosecutors and arrested in February 2020, charged with illegally using campaign funds to fund a lifestyle that included golf club memberships and casino trips to Connecticut, and lying to banks about his debt to obtain mortgages and other loans.

He pleaded guilty to charges against him and in September 2021 was sentenced to 15 months in prison. He was released from federal prison in November 2022.

Nangle said he hid his gambling addiction from everyone at work and at home, but it ultimately cost him his 22-year career in the House, as he lost his reelection bid in a September 2020 primary in the wake of the scandal.

Nangle said he vowed in federal court to dedicate some of his time going forward to helping people, especially young people, “not to go down the life suffering that I endured for so many years.” Today, he said he works full-time at the Bridge Club of Greater Lowell, which works with people dealing with addiction, and serves as a part-time peer specialist for the Massachusetts Council on Gaming and Health.

“I thank God that online gambling wasn’t around when I was betting with the bookies in the city of Lowell and running up to Rockingham Racetrack and Suffolk Downs. I don’t know what would have become of me had that been around at that time,” Nangle said. “However, today is a whole different era. As I say, 38 states now allow individuals, via their cellphones, to place bets. And who do you think is placing all these bets on these cellphones? The old dinosaurs like me? No. There are some. But I’m telling you, it’s the kids. It’s the youth.”

Nangle said the people who show up for the Gamblers Anonymous meetings he attends have been trending younger, including some teenagers who are brought to the meetings by their parents. He said he sees the boom of legal gambling and its particular appeal to young people as “a health crisis coming down the road.”

“Think of it this way: imagine if we lowered the drinking age to 14. Can you imagine the outrage that would take place if the consumption of alcohol was allowed at the age of 14? Now, I’m not saying gambling is allowed at the age of 14, but folks, the kids are doing it. They’re doing it, unfortunately,” he said. “And I bet everybody in this room — I hate to use the word bet — I am sure that, I predict, that everybody in this room has somebody, or they’re going to know somebody that’s addicted to gambling — not just like myself, but the younger ones.”

Source: NBC Boston

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