Lesser has introduced his own sports betting legislation in the Senate. His bill — S.269 — would also allow the state’s three commercial casinos and horse racetracks to operate sports betting, plus permit online wagering. But a major difference is that all amateur sporting events — including college athletics — would be prohibited.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Another major difference is the proposed tax rate on gross revenue stemming from sports betting. The House sports betting bill seeks to impose a 12.5 percent fee on land-based sports betting, and 15 percent online.<\/p>\n
Lesser’s bill suggests an effective tax of 20-25 percent on sports betting income.<\/p>\n
While Massachusetts lawmakers must still come to terms on how to regulate sports betting, they generally agree that it’s time to act in order to keep gaming dollars inside the state. If the legislature can pass a sports betting bill, it will likely find support in the governor’s office.<\/p>\n
\nThere are a whole bunch of states that are pretty far around the bases, down the field,”<\/strong> Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker (R) said this week.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n“I know people who live in Massachusetts who drive to New Hampshire just to do it,” the governor continued. “I don’t know why we wouldn’t just incorporate the very basic framework that’s been adopted by most of these places.”<\/p>\n
He added that the legislature would order some of the revenue generated and “make sure some of it gets put to good use to help people who are dealing with gambling issues and other issues like that.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Massachusetts sports betting has been an item of discussion in the Boston capital nearly since the Supreme Court in 2018 ruled that states — not the federal government — should determine their own individual laws on sports gambling. But with the legislature’s 2021 session set to conclude in less than a month, some lawmakers say […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":190198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Massachusetts Sports Betting Effort Intensifies in Boston Capital<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n