Regulators have decided on the date for the potential launch of mobile sports betting sites in Massachusetts, and it's March 10th.
During a regulator's meeting, the executive director of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC), Karen Wells, proposed 10 March at 10 AM as a tentative launch date.
Just in Time for March Madness
"The suggestion is we do it that day because it gives us the weekend if there are any issues before March Madness starts."
The NCAA men's basketball championship, known as March Madness, starts on March 14th. If online sports betting starts on the 10th, it will give the regulators the weekend to handle any potential issues and have another commission meeting, if necessary, on Monday to address them.
Still More Work to Do
Unfortunately, the date could change, as there's regulatory work to do before other avenues of legal sports betting in the state can open. The internal controls of bookmarkers are underway, and the MGC needs to approve temporary licences and operation certificates.
The MGC has already given preliminary approvals for mobile sports betting to 11 operators, and the betting could launch without every operator involved.
"If the applicants can't respond or do not respond to needed modifications to their internal control submissions, that potentially impacts the timeline. And we do have the option of launching some but not all of the operators."
Sports Betting in Massachusetts
Legal sports betting in Massachusetts started on January 31st, and players can place their bets at Encore Boston Harbor in Everet, MGM Springfield in Springfield, and Plainridge Park Casino in Plainville.
These brick-and-mortar venues are already seeing an uptick in the number of visitors and members, so we can only imagine how the start of online sports betting will change the game for the operators in Bay State.
