Bay State regulators are suddenly publicly concerned about underage Massachusetts residents logging on to their parents' or older friends’ accounts and placing same-game parlays and other wagers.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) met Monday to hear the third-quarter reports from several online sports betting operators, including Caesars Sportsbook and Boston-based DraftKings.
It was clear from the outset that commissioners had underage wagering on their minds, as the operators were quizzed on what they could do to stop those under the age of 21 from using the account of an older friend or parent to make bets.
Commissioner Brad Hill said they heard about concerns related to this form of underage gambling during recent conversations with an “outside” group.
“Example: I'm able to bet, my 16-year-old knows my passwords,” Hill said during Monday’s meeting. “I allow him to go in and bet, which we're being told is happening. We didn't have any proof of it, but just that it was happening.”
There is some data to support those suspicions. DraftKings, for instance, reported to the MGC that it suspended five user accounts in the third quarter “due to claims of underage activity,” which followed six other accounts suspended for similar reasons in the first half of 2023.
It's clear someone spoke to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission about underage online sports betting recently, as it prompted a lot of talk during today's meeting. Commissioners used examples of kids wagering via parental account, older friend allowing younger friend to do same. pic.twitter.com/d9bvvKMSeD
— Geoff Zochodne (@GeoffZochodne) November 27, 2023
However, the relatively low number of suspected underage users getting caught (and in the case of some operators, that number was zero from July to September) may not capture the extent of the problem.
Commissioner Jordan Maynard pointed to survey results released by the NCAA earlier this year, which found 58% of the 18- to 22-year-old respondents it asked had made some kind of sports bet.
“So I just don't believe it's zero,” Maynard said. “No one's going to convince me it’s zero or even single digits. Especially, like I said, take a look at the NCAA survey. To all those operators, you'll see that it's definitely happening. It's happening in very high numbers.”
What Hill and other commissioners wanted to know was how that sort of wagering could be stopped. The answer they got back, essentially, is that there is no guaranteed way to detect and prevent it from happening, but that there are things that could suggest it is taking place and raise suspicion with operators.
Those tools include requiring users to upload photo IDs and making multi-factor authentication a default setting. One red flag would also arise if a single account saw use from multiple IP addresses, suggesting several different devices have access. Not all of those may belong to the person whose name is on the account.
“We'd have to do further research on the account and the IP address,” said Curtis Lane Jr., digital compliance manager for Caesars Sportsbook. “But if it is in the neighborhood of an underage individual involved in that, then yes, we will take the appropriate action to suspend the account until we can get clarification of who's controlling it.”
Parental advisory
DraftKings’ senior director of regulatory operations, Jake List, said another telltale sign of possible underage wagering is if a single device is accessing multiple legal sports betting accounts. Another would be if the operator is seeing changes in betting patterns or sudden shifts in where a user is trying to gain access.
“If someone moves from one location to another quicker than they should be able to and logs in on another device, then these are all things that merit further fraud investigation, one of the outcomes of which could be potential underage use,” List told commissioners.
Operators can also double-check the source of funding for an account to make sure it matches the user's name. Nevertheless, if a parent wants to hand over their phone and online sportsbook account to their child, there’s no silver bullet to stop it from happening.
“Unfortunately, there's not a 100% foolproof way to prevent a parent from giving access to their children,” said Jennifer Roberts, vice president and general counsel at WynnBET. “But we do try to use as many resources as possible to prevent that.”
'Inform without enticing'
Commissioner Hill said he was “actually pleasantly surprised” by the responses from operators about the underage gambling issue. That said, now that the issue is on the radar of the commission and operators, it sounds like it will remain there for the foreseeable future.
“I just think it's something that we need to continue to keep an eye on and work with our operators to ensure that this is a priority for them,” Hill said. “I think over the next few weeks, few months, and into a new year, this issue is going to come up in regards to how we can get this information out to our high school students, college students who aren't of age, things of that sort.”
Still, providing information about the issue could have unintended side effects. Namely, it may tip underage residents off to a new way of getting down their bets.
"There is a tricky line to walk when you're talking about going into high schools and colleges in terms of how you inform without enticing," commissioner Eileen O’Brien noted.
