Massachusetts Braces For Legal Online Gambling Drive

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Wednesday, February 12th, 2014 | Written by Charles Washington

According to a recent report released by Gaming Compliance, the northeastern state of Massachusetts is one of a number of US states pushing to introduce online gambling legislation this year.

“In 2013, 10 states considered legislation that would legalize online casino-style gambling, which was a historic high. This year is shaping up to be at least as busy,” the study stated.

Massachusetts embraces land based casinos

Back in 2011, the Massachusetts Casino Bill was passed legalizing gambling and paving the way for three casinos and one slots-only casino to open in the state, with a probable grand opening date slated for the end of 2014. Therefore, many see Massachusetts embracing online gambling as the next natural progression towards setting up a solid, viable state gambling industry.

One of those advocates is Clyde W. Barrow, director of the Center for Policy Analysis at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, who claims that 2% of Massachusetts’ population of 6.7 million people already gamble online, and so regulating the industry would be a means of directing valuable funds into state coffers rather than seeing the money flow away into the revenue streams of offshore operators. In addition, Barrow said online gambling sites could actually serve the interests of the industry as a whole by allowing residents to learn gambling games from the comfort of their own homes before venturing out to a casino.

Massachusetts online gambling thwarted in 2013

Despite Massachusetts being one of the busiest states working towards online gambling last year, three attempts to introduce online gaming bills were eventually rebuffed by the state legislature, one of which would have allowed online casino games and another the setting up of a state online lottery.

This year, however, both the Massachusetts Gaming Commission and the State Lottery Commission have clearly indicated they intend to propose some type of online gaming bill. On January 9th, for instance, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MCG) set aside time to discuss online gambling as part of a hearing related to the state’s busy land-based casino projects schedule.

Moreover, last week the State Lottery Commission called upon the state legislature to get the legalized online gambling ball rolling by permitting the Lottery Commission to run online lotteries trials, and perhaps online casino and poker games. The proposed bill SB 101 would eventually pave the way towards allowing Massachusetts to form compacts with other states and offer an inter-state online lottery. As Assistant Executive Director of Marketing & Communications at Massachusetts State Lottery, Beth Bresnahan, explains:

“Rather in the interests of preserving and protecting the Lottery, we simply want to ensure that we have a solid understanding of the technology and logistics of online gaming should this market space become more competitive. Existing law does not permit us to conduct such experimentation.”

Not all welcome Massachusetts internet gambling proposal

In spite of Massachusetts’ recent drive towards state gambling, not everyone welcomes the state introducing even more ways for people to lose money, with former Massachusetts resident Les Bernal, who also happens to be the executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Stop Predatory Gambling Foundation, labeling the move yet “another source of voluntary taxation.” Bernal further added; “This Internet gambling initiative is targeted to kids. These are Facebook casinos.”

In addition, the state’s efforts to introduce internet gambling face formidable resistance in the form of advocacy group ‘Repeal The Casino Deal‘, which not only opposes online gambling, but is also seeking to repeal the Massachusetts Casino Bill of 2011 and have casinos in general banned from the state.

Another source of resistance to the online lottery proposal is coming from the state’s retailers, who believe such legislation would produce more inequality in American life. As Stephen Ryan, the executive director of the New England Convenience Store Association, said in reference to bill SB 101:

“We are opposed to the lottery taking customers out of our stores and creating what we potentially see as jobless casinos online, and turn potentially every home computer, laptop, and smartphone into a lottery machine. We think it’s clearly a step in the wrong direction.”

Meanwhile, The Massachusetts State Lottery Commission recorded a huge $955 million profit in 2013, down slightly from the $983.7 million profit the state lottery generated in 2013.

Whether Massachusetts will successfully be able to convince residents and lawmakers to accept online gambling within the state is unclear. However, regulated online gambling is only in its infancy Stateside, with the market currently consisting of just Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey. Nevertheless, in spite of its best effort, US authorities have been unable to halt American players seeking out and playing on US-friendly poker sites, leading lawmakers from various states to conclude that if people are going to gamble online anyway, then maybe individual states ought to regulate the industry and carve out a slice of the pie for themselves.