Online sports betting sites seeking to take action in Massachusetts — without a brick-and-mortar casino or racetrack partner — have begun making their case for a license to state regulators.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) continued its steady diet of meetings on Friday with another hearing, this time to start the process of reviewing applications for “Category 3” licenses that are “untethered,” or not connected to a physical location.
Under the state’s sports-betting law, three casinos and two racetracks are eligible for in-person wagering licenses, which also entitle them to two “tethered” platforms for digital gambling. However, regulators can award as many as seven untethered licenses for mobile sports betting in Massachusetts as well.
A small change
After awarding four tethered licenses in December and January, the MGC has nine meetings scheduled over the next two weeks to tackle the untethered applications. Those will happen ahead of the regulator's expected launch of mobile sports betting in the commonwealth, which the MGC hopes will be in early March.
There is a unique quirk to the untethered hearings in that in addition to the individual merits of an application, the commissioners will consider the "variations" between applicants and how approving those applications could maximize benefits and minimize harm to the state.
MGC to hold Public Meetings on Untethered Category 3 Sports Wagering License Applications in coming days and weeks.
— MA Gaming Commission (@MassGamingComm) January 5, 2023
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The collective evaluation will happen at the end of the MGC's untethered hearings.
Applications are being reviewed in alphabetical order, starting with representatives for Bally Bet on Friday. The other six operators on the docket are companies connected to FanDuel, Betr, DraftKings, Betway, and PointsBet.
“So while each application will be evaluated on its own merits, as the final step in the evaluation process, the commission must also consider the differences between the applications as they relate to one another and the previously awarded licenses, and how granting any particular application or combination thereof will benefit the commonwealth,” MGC Chair Cathy Judd-Stein said on Friday.
