Should sports betting operators want, heads or tails betting is officially available in Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission made a late decision on Thursday to add several Super Bowl coin-toss markets to the Massachusetts legal sports betting catalog just days before Sunday’s Chiefs-Eagles showdown.
The Commission voted today to allow operators to offer Super Bowl prop bets related to the coin toss, including coin toss result and the team to win the coin toss.
— MA Gaming Commission (@MassGamingComm) February 6, 2025
The updated Massachusetts Sports Wagering Catalog can be found on our site: https://t.co/PjLB0i2eQK
By a vote of 3-2, the regulators approved Commissioner Brad Hill’s proposal to allow sportsbooks to offer coin toss odds for the coin-toss result, the coin-toss winner, the Super Bowl coin-toss winner winning the game, and the coin-toss call result markets.
“I think the patrons want it,” said Commission Chair Jordan Maynard said, who voted in favor of the measure.
Massachusetts joins about a dozen U.S. states that allow several sportsbooks to offer these prop bets to the Super Bowl odds.
No proposal was made to add any other Super Bowl novelty markets, like the color of the Gatorade bath, which is also offered in multiple U.S. jurisdictions.
Patron request
This decision was a course reversal for the MGC, which voted 3-2 before last year’s Super Bowl to not add wagering relating to the coin toss.
Hill, a basketball referee, said he brought it back to the table after a spectator, during a game he was officiating, asked if the coin toss would be available for Super Bowl LIX. A few days later, a different patron asked him the same question.
The commission said no Massachusetts operator submitted a formal request to add coin-toss wagers to the catalog.
Voting nay
Amending regulations to the Bay State’s Super Bowl odds was hotly debated during the commission’s Thursday meeting.
Commissioners Eileen O’Brien and Nakisha Skinner were the two dissenting votes.
O’Brien didn’t want to add it because operators weren’t asking for it, and she said she didn’t think it would drive up revenue. O’Brien added that she didn’t believe disallowing coin-toss bets would force bettors to the illegal market or other jurisdictions to make these kinds of wagers.
Skinner, who voted against it in 2024, said nothing had changed concerning the measure, and she questioned if the commission should use its authority to add to the catalog without a more formal process.
