That was quick. About a week after sports betting became legal in Massachusetts, two of the casinos in the state that offer wagering violated regulations. Fortunately, what Encore Boston Harbor and Plainridge Park Casino did was not particularly egregious and both self-reported.
The violation: taking bets on games involving in-state college teams. Specifically, Encore Boston Harbor accepted bets on Boston College women’s basketball games and Plainridge Park took wagers on Merrimack College men’s basketball games.
The number of bets, exact events, and dollar amounts accepted have not been made public. In the time period between January 31, which is when sports betting started in Massachusetts, and when the casinos reported their own violations, both schools played two games.
Plainridge Park said the problem stemmed from a “data input error by one of our vendors” and that it has taken measures to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Encore Boston Harbor didn’t specify exactly why such bets were allowed, but also said that it has taken steps to fix things going forward.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is meeting Tuesday to discuss if any action should be taken against the two casinos.
As mentioned, legal sports betting just went live in Massachusetts on January 31, in time for last night’s Super Bowl. Currently, only retail sports betting is available at the state’s three casinos: Plainridge Park, Encore Boston Harbor, and MGM Springfield.
Most sports are allowed, but college sports are the big exception, as is the case in some other states. People can bet on college sports, just not games that involve an in-state team. The only times wagering on in-state teams like Boston College is allowed is when the team is in a tournament with at least four other schools.
Online/mobile sports betting is expected to launch the morning of March 10, in time for the men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments, best known as March Madness. According to Boston.com, though, there is a possibility of that being pushed back, “dependent on the quality of the internal control submissions” from the sportsbook operators and the “issue-responsiveness” from Gaming Laboratories International.
A total of 11 operators have been approved for mobile betting in Massachusetts: Bally Sports, Barstool Sports, BetMGM, Betr, Betway, Caesars, DraftKings, Fanatics, FanDuel, PointsBet, and WynnBet. Of those, Betway is the only one that does not plan on launching on the first day.
