The move falls in line with the Legislature’s penny-pinching efforts to alleviate state budget pressures amid a host of federal funding claw backs nearly a year into the second Trump administration. Gateway Cities with budgets already nearing a breaking point will now lose out on funds they have used for nearly a decade.
Gambling
Posted inGambling
Sports betting hits record high in September
Bettors set their own record last month by putting about $678.75 million on the line as wagers on September sporting events. That unseats the previous record monthly handle of $658.7 million wagered on events in December 2023.
Posted inGambling
iLottery off to a very slow start
Treasurer Deb Goldberg announced a new timeline for the online lottery, saying the initiative will not launch until April 2026, near the end of fiscal 2026.
Posted inGambling
Long-stalled gambling data project moves forward
Massachusetts gaming regulators are moving forward with a data collection project – mandated by a 2011 statute – dealing with problem gambling that’s been on ice for almost a decade because of industry and pandemic delays.
Posted inGambling
Does living near a casino impact youth gambling habits?
A year-long study paid for with casino mitigation funds would explore how 14- to 25-year-olds in Charlestown experience gambling, their feelings about the Encore, and make recommendations about how the city of Boston can protect youths “from being harmed or exploited by gambling.”
Posted inBy The Numbers
Sports betting is soaking ‘financially constrained’ households
The study linked sports betting to “a large decrease” in deposits to brokerage accounts, accompanied by “decreased credit availability, increased credit card debt, and a higher incidence rate of overdrawing bank accounts.”
Posted inGambling
Online lottery charges toward legalization with some safety tweaks
Based on other states with iLotteries, some of the products would be as straightforward as allowing someone to play Mass Cash or Powerball over their mobile device. Others look like something of a high-tech scratch-ticket. Some approach the appeal of more traditional mobile games – matching patterns, playing battleship – and still others approximate games more often found in casinos than on a lottery ticket.
Posted inGambling
Addiction in mind, Mass Gaming officials mull stricter advertising regulations
Researcher Rachel Volberg advised restricting celebrity endorsements to reduce their appeal to young people and problem gamblers. Volberg emphasized the importance of monitoring emerging forms of advertising on social media platforms, which can be more insidious and harder to regulate.
Posted inGambling
Mass. Gaming Commission studying online casino games, AI use
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is trying to get its arms around the technological future of gambling – seeking bids for research into the potential impacts of “iGaming” and the use of artificial intelligence in the gaming industry.
Posted inGambling
Wynn, Everett at odds over casino expansion across Broadway
“It has become apparent that we are unable to negotiate an agreement with the City of Everett regarding property taxes, impact fees, and infrastructure improvements in a timely fashion,” the company said in a statement that replaced the website for the project.
Posted inBy The Numbers
Poll indicates young people aren’t betting on sports as much as feared
One year into legalized sports gambling and growing concern about its impact on the young, a new CommonWealth Beacon/GBH News poll doesn’t paint a clear-cut apocalyptic picture.
Posted inGambling
Coalition launches to tackle scourge of youth sports betting
IN ATTORNEY GENERAL Andrea Campbell’s view, sports betting is not only a potentially hazardous vice in and of itself, but also a gateway to other addictive behavior – especially if […]
Posted inGambling
On age minimums, state weaving a tangled tale
What’s the right age to grant the rights and responsibilities of adulthood? Based on current policy debates, it all depends. Are you looking to roll the dice or rob a store?
Posted inState Government
Short takes: Everett soccer stadium in legislative limbo
A bid to ease the way for The Kraft Group to build a professional soccer stadium in Everett for the New England Revolution is caught in legislative limbo on Beacon Hill.
Posted inGambling
Mass. Gaming Commission looks to study sex trafficking in casinos
With casino gambling booming, state regulators are looking to pursue a study assessing the influence of the expansion of gaming on sex trafficking in Massachusetts.
Posted inGambling
New company joins online Lottery ticket workaround
State lawmakers may be undecided on whether to launch online Lottery ticket sales, but those transactions are happening anyway, and the market seems poised to grow, with a new third-party vendor jumping in today to make online ticket purchases possible.
Posted inGambling
iLottery still a treasurer priority as online betting evolves
LEGISLATORS ULTIMATELY opted against bringing the Massachusetts State Lottery online in their compromise budget for this fiscal year, but state Treasurer Deb Goldberg is still aggressively pushing for it. With the […]
Posted inGambling
While online Lottery falters, third-party app provides tickets through workaround
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE THE LEGISLATURE AGAIN rejected an attempt to allow the Massachusetts Lottery to sell its products online, but that doesn’t mean gamblers can’t order Lottery tickets online […]
Posted inGambling
Lottery hits jackpot on all fronts
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE IN THE FISCAL YEAR that ended June 30, the Massachusetts Lottery brought in more revenue than ever before, paid out more in prizes than any previous […]
Posted inGambling
Campbell cautions against headlong rush to online lottery
ATTORNEY GENERAL Andrea Campbell has been reluctant to dive head-first into the debate over whether to move state lottery games online, steering clear of unconditional support or opposition to such a […]
Posted inGambling
Gaming Commission asks feds to shut down illegal gambling
GAMBLERS IN MASSACHUSETTS have a full menu of wagering options to choose from these days: physical casinos, sports betting in person or online, and the state lottery, which some officials […]
Posted inEconomy, Gambling, Opinion
An online lottery will hurt Main Street retailers
LOCALLY OWNED retail stores are rightfully up in arms about inclusion of an online lottery in the House fiscal 2024 budget. As demonstrated through testimony before the Legislature’s Joint Committee […]
Posted inPolitics
Competitiveness is watchword on Beacon Hill, but what does it mean?
BEACON HILL’S favorite buzzword these days is “competitiveness,” but the meaning isn’t always the same among the three big players in state government and their different approaches to the topic […]
Posted inGambling
Envisioning a Massachusetts ‘iLottery’
IF THE MASSACHUSETTS LOTTERY expands onto the internet with a new “iLottery,” what could it look like? Let’s spin the wheel. Option 1 – Michigan. Started in 2014, the Michigan […]