The fourth brick-and-mortar facility for legal sports betting in the Bay State should open sometime around the start of the National Football League’s upcoming regular season.
Members of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) were informed Monday by representatives of Caesars Sportsbook and the Massasoit Greyhound Association, which does business as Raynham Park, that they expect an early September opening for their new wagering facility.
The race and sportsbook is being built on 13 acres of land near Raynham Park, a former greyhound racetrack that has since transitioned into a simulcast-wagering parlor. Raynham Park is now seeking a license that allows holders to offer retail and online sports betting sites, although no decision was made on Monday by the MGC.
The Massachusetts sports betting law allows a horse-racing track or simulcast-wagering facility to apply for a sports-betting license. Located about a 45-minute drive south of Boston, Raynham Park is one of the two entities that meet the criteria for a “Category 2” license, the other being Suffolk Downs.
Raynham Park is partnering with Caesars Sportsbook for its brick-and-mortar wagering operations. The Raynham Park sportsbook will have at least five counters and 20 Caesars-branded self-service kiosks for placing bets.
“The sports wagering area will contain $2,800,000 of audio-visual equipment, to include a stadium seating area overlooking a 63’x10’ LED board, two 52’x7’ LED boards, one 30’x7’ LED board, one 12’x6’ LED board, two 120’x2’ LED sport tickers (displaying game odds), and hundreds of LED television screens located throughout the space – leading to over 400 video displays,” Raynham Park’s application states. “This visual experience should be unrivaled in any venue in New England.”
The Raynham Park delegation told the Massachusetts Gaming Commission that they are now looking at having the new sportsbook facility open in September: pic.twitter.com/6NmxyqVNQi
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) June 12, 2023
One difference between the sportsbook license sought by Raynham Park and those obtained by casinos in Massachusetts is that the racing facility must make a capital investment of $7.5 million or more within three years of receiving its permit.
The simulcast operator predicts spending on its new pari-mutuel race and sportsbook will exceed $7.5 million within six months of obtaining its license and that “upon completion of its sportsbook facility, Raynham Park will have invested almost 3 times the required amount.”
Raynham Park will be allowed to offer statewide mobile sports betting if it receives its license, but it would need its own “Category 3” license to do so on its own. In the meantime, the track has yet to announce a partner that could conduct online wagering on its behalf. Caesars already has a mobile sports betting license in Massachusetts that is "tethered" to the Encore Boston Harbor casino.
The bookmaker plans to use its retail operation at Raynham Park to drive business to its mobile app, and vice versa.
“Caesars Sportsbook knows from experience that multi-channel customers are the most valuable customers,” the Raynham Park application states. “While Caesars Sportsbook expects the vast majority of handle and revenue in Massachusetts to come via online and mobile channels, they know that the social, experiential aspect of sports betting remains attractive to a significant portion of the population.”
Decision TBD
If approved, Raynham Park would be clear to open the fourth retail sports betting facility in Massachusetts. The first three are at the state’s commercial casinos, including the aforementioned Encore Boston Harbor.
Legal sports betting began in Massachusetts at the end of January at the three casinos. Mobile wagering officially started in March.
Revenue figures reported by the MGC for April show the state's three retail licensees handled $13 million in sports bets during the month. Online sportsbooks handled more than $566 million, $19.4 million of which was attributed to Caesars.
Raynham Park and Suffolk Downs said previously that they would not be ready to offer in-person sports betting by January like the casinos. This allowed the MGC to take a slower pace with the licensing process in what has been a relatively busy year for the regulator.
“It's OK for us to pause and say this year has been demanding and will continue to be demanding on our MGC team,” MGC Chair Cathy Judd-Stein said at one point during Monday’s meeting.
Judd-Stein said at the outset of Monday’s meeting that the commission would decide on Raynham Park’s overall suitability for a sports-betting license at a later date.
