The Encore Boston Harbor casino in Massachusetts just can’t seem to get this sports betting thing right. For the second time in the state’s first month with legal retail sports betting, Encore Boston Harbor taken illegal wagers.
And once again, the bets were taken on a Boston College women’s basketball game. In Massachusetts, though college sports betting is allowed, it is not permitted on games involving in-state teams. There are exceptions for tournaments, but by and large, betting on any college sport in which a team located in Massachusetts is playing – regardless of where the game is held – is against the rules.
After the first incident, which Encore Boston Harbor self-reported, the casino said it had “implemented additional measures to ensure compliance.” According to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC), there was some sort of issue with the betting platform provided by GAN.
According to the Boston Globe, one of those additional measures was to simply turned off some controls that then disabled college betting. But then, somehow, “the system automatically turned back on.” Uh huh, and that malware just “appeared” on my son’s computer by magic.
“Through our audits, we identified a programming error in the system as it relates to NCAA women’s college basketball markets and are currently working with our provider on a permanent solution. In the interim, we have locked all NCAA women’s college basketball betting,” an Encore representative told the Globe.
We don’t know details surrounding the bets on the second violation, but if it was anything like the first, the transgressions were minor. Encore Boston Harbor took a single bet on the Boston College-Notre Dame basketball game on February 2 as a part of a five-team parlay.
In addition to Encore Boston Harbor’s two betting violations, Plainridge Park Casino ran afoul of the state’s regulations earlier this month. Blaming a “data input error by one of our vendors,” Plainridge Park took bets on Merrimack College men’s basketball games. Specifically, Kambi, the casino’s platform provider, labeled Merrimack as a Florida school, thus letting it get past the filters.
Plainridge Park took 33 bets for $6,848 and doled out $4,270 in winnings on Merrimack’s February 2 game against Long Island University before an employee noticed the problem.
Currently, sports betting is only available at the three casinos in Massachusetts; MGM Springfield it the other. MGM Springfield also took illegal bets on two Harvard men’s basketball games.
A mobile wagering launch is planned for March 10. Eleven operators have been given the green light for a mobile offering: Bally Sports, Barstool Sports, BetMGM, Betr, Betway, Caesars, DraftKings, Fanatics, FanDuel, PointsBet, and WynnBet. Betway is the only one of the group that has said it will not go live on day one.
Image credit: Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism