No Massachusetts Sports Betting in 2022
The topic of Massachusetts sports betting has been around in the state for years, and the state was finally able to legalized the industry. Now that a law has been passed, the next topic of discussion has centered around the launch date.
Industry leaders would allow them to take advantage of betting during the NFL season. There were some rumors that a late Fall launch was possible, but there is now an official date set in the state of Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has come out and said that the industry will not be launching until January 2023, at the earliest. That January 2023 date isn’t even the launch date for the entire industry as online sportsbooks aren’t going to go live until February 2023.
One bit of concern for industry leaders in the state is that the commission could also choose to push the launch date out even further if there are complications. It has been a slow-moving process up to this point, and there are some key issues that haven’t been figured out.
DraftKings is expected to be the leader of Massachusetts sports betting at some point, but it could be set up for a slow start. This operator doesn’t have a retail sports betting partner at this point and it could allow other operators a chance to launch a month earlier than it would be able to.
Plenty of Massachusetts Sports Betting Licenses Available
One thing that is starting to become more clear in Massachusetts is the number of licenses that will be available, and the operators that are expected to claim those licenses. According to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, there can be up to 15 online sports betting licenses handed out by the state.
All of the retail casinos in the state of Massachusetts have access to a pair of online skins, and the racetracks in the state can have one online sports betting skin. Several of those casinos and racetracks have already announced a partnership and that will allow for a quick licensing process.
There are also going to be seven online available to operators that are unable to find a partner in the state, and there could be some competition for those licenses.
Maryland Getting Closer
It seemed as if Massachusetts and Maryland were in a race to see which state could get to the finish line first, and it’s going to be the latter that wins. Maryland already has retail sports betting up and running, and there is growing optimism that the online sportsbooks can go live later this Fall.
The Northeast part of the country has seen tremendous sports betting growth over the last few years, and Maryland should be the next to go live. Since both states are expected to share a number of the same operators, that could cause the sportsbooks that want to launch in Massachusetts to be delayed as well.
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