Bay State regulators are grappling with what to do about more instances of sports betting sites at casinos that mistakenly offered wagering on state colleges.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) met Friday to probe two more cases of casinos taking bets on colleges in the state, which is not allowed unless those teams are playing in a tournament.
While the MGC did not make a final decision on Friday in either matter, it will deliberate privately before issuing a written ruling and potentially taking disciplinary action, such as fines or license conditions for further Massachusetts sports betting.
The amount of money involved in the mistaken betting is relatively small and there are supposedly fixes in place to prevent repeat issues. However, the incidents highlight the growing pains in a newly legalized market like Massachusetts, where authorized wagering only began at the casinos at the end of January. Mobile sports betting started in the state in March.
Gentlemen of Harvard (the one in Massachusetts)
For the first case, commissioners heard MGM Resorts International’s MGM Springfield disclosed to the MGC in February that it mistakenly offered sports wagering on unauthorized events, which were two regular season college basketball games earlier that month involving Harvard. The error was first reported to the casino by MGM Springfield’s sportsbook vendor, BetMGM.
Wagering on the February 3 and February 4 basketball games was available for more than 20 hours each, and approximately $1,200 was wagered with the games involved.
There were 28 bets placed in total with Harvard included and all of that action came from kiosks at the casino. The MGC was notified about the error on February 10, after BetMGM and MGM Springfield spent time rounding up all the facts.
The MGC heard the reason for the mistakenly offered wagering markets was that Harvard was designated as a Connecticut college, not Massachusetts. So, when legal sports betting began at the casino, players were able to get action down on Harvard.
That issue has since been fixed, the MGC heard, and Harvard is now properly categorized as located in Massachusetts. BetMGM has reviewed its betting blacklist, and MGM Springfield is conducting a daily audit of its wagering markets to ensure a similar mistake doesn’t arise, the regulators were told.
A second Encore
The second matter before the MGC on Friday involved Wynn Resorts’ Encore Boston Harbor in Everett and the hearing was in connection with an issue the commission previously heard about. Indeed, Encore is already in some lukewarm water with regulators after it reported that it mistakenly offered wagering on a Boston College women’s basketball game in early February for around five hours.
The MGC held a hearing for Encore in March over that incident. A decision for that proceeding (as well as another hearing for PENN Entertainment Inc.’s Plainridge Park Casino) is still outstanding.
Nevertheless, the hearing on Friday was basically due to the same issue. That is because the MGC heard it was notified on February 21 that Encore and its WynnBET sportsbook had inadvertently offered more wagering on Boston College women's basketball games, on February 12 and February 19.
The error was discovered by a WynnBET trader, but the MGC heard wagering for both games was available for around six hours total and that approximately $200 combined was bet with the games involved. All seven of the bets that were made were placed at kiosks.
Feed follies?
According to GAN Ltd., a technology provider for the WynnBET sportsbook at Encore, the error was because its feed provider, Genius Sports, uploaded markets using the name Boston College Eagles women. GAN had only screened out the name Boston College, so wagering on the women's team was available because the names didn't match.
GAN has since updated its exclusion list to capture all BC names, the MGC heard, and the company is also working to provide access to WynnBET traders to give them more control over wagering markets. Furthermore, in the wake of the incidents, Encore is conducting audits twice daily of what’s on offer.
While the MGC was told the naming issue was only uncovered after the February 19 game, after around two hours of discussion of Encore’s mistake, commissioners were still stuck on how the same issue could arise so soon after the first misstep. The commission then went into its private deliberations to decide what other information they require.
“Today we've uncovered certain questions that we'll have, and we'll have the benefit of our legal team working with us to get what we need,” MGC Chair Cathy Judd-Stein said before the end of the public portion of the hearing.
