Following a failed attempt in 2024, a Massachusetts lawmaker is taking another shot at significantly altering the state’s sports betting taxation and regulation.
Sen. John F. Keenan has filed Bill SD 1657 which would increase the tax rate on sports betting operators, limit bettors, and ban certain types of controversial wagers in the Bay State.
The bill proposes a 51% tax rate on operators, up from the current 15% on retail sports betting and 20% on online sportsbooks. In a state that’s generated more than $212 million in tax revenue from sports betting since 2023, Keenan’s hike would put Massachusetts at the highest rate in the country.
New York currently takes 51% of online sportsbooks’ gross revenue. Illinois went to a progressive tax rate that ranges from 20% to 40%. Sports betting revenue in Pennsylvania is taxed at 36%.
Last year, Keenan said the tax hike is not just for financial gain.
"The public harm issues are going to get so far ahead of us unless we act," Keenan said in May 2024. "And we have an obligation to all the residents and taxpayers of the commonwealth of Massachusetts to use whatever revenues we can from the industry to prevent the harms from happening."
Adding restrictions
The bill also wants to limit bettors' wagering, proposing a daily limit of $1,000 and a monthly cap of $10,000 unless a sports betting operator conducts an affordability check. If so, a bettor’s limit would be 15% of their bank account funds.
There was a push from NCAA president Charlie Baker in 2024 to ban college player props in legal sports betting states. Keenan’s legislation takes that further, stating that “sports wagering shall include neither in-play bets nor proposition bets.”
"Those in-game bets have been described to me by somebody who had a real issue with gambling, true addiction to the point of suicide, 'That's the crack cocaine of betting,'" Keenan said last year.
The bill prohibits sports betting advertisements during live sporting events and compensation based on customer wagering. It would also add bonus promotions, same-game parlays, odds boosts, reload bonuses, and “risk-free, no-sweat or other free wagers commonly understood to have a similar meaning and utilized to attract a person to patronize a qualified gaming entity” to the unfair and deceptive practices list.
Keenan’s legislation calls for regulators to track customer data and report it to a non-profit entity contracted to research, identify, and monitor problem gaming and gambling addictions.
Ties to SAFE Bet Act
The bill is backed by the Public Health Advocacy Institute, the same group that’s pushing the SAFE Bet Act, a federal attempt to impact and control sports betting greatly.
Massachusetts lawmakers rejected adding Keenan’s proposals to the 2025 budget bill shortly after his passionate speech last year. It’s unclear if the latest attempt will be received differently, but his hope of setting betting limits comes at an interesting time. The process of passing a gambling bill into law is long and difficult.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission wanted to know more about the practice of sportsbooks limiting bettors in 2024. It took a second roundtable discussion to get sports betting operators to show up and chime in on the matter.
The regulatory body is still investigating.
