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Massachusetts Gaming Commission discusses sports betting advertising

The Rivers Casino sportsbook in 2019
WAMC/Jesse King
The Rivers Casino sportsbook in 2019

Commission chair concerned about "frequency and intensity" of ads once sports wagering begins.

As the Massachusetts Gaming Commission works to stand up legal sports betting in the state, the regulators’ attention turned Monday to issues involving advertising.

During a virtual roundtable Monday with representatives from the broadcasting and gambling industries and from one of the four major sports leagues, Commissioners were assured that a lot of self-regulation already exists when it comes to advertising the venues and platforms where people can bet on games.

Advertisements cannot target minors or problem gamblers, for example, said Casey Clark of the American Gaming Association.

“We’re all working together on setting standards proactively and voluntarily,” Clark said.

He said ads by sports betting operators must include a responsible gaming message and a phone number or website where people can go to get help if their gambling has become a problem.

“Advertising is playing a major role by getting that content into bettors’ hands,” Clark said.

Major League Baseball allows no more than six advertisements for sports betting during the broadcast of a game. Marquest Meeks, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel for MLB, said the league tries to strike a balance between informing fans interested in betting and those who don’t want to be inundated with ads promoting wagering.

“We have to permit enough advertising so that the legalized regulated sports books can draw customers away from (the) illegal market,” Meeks said.

New England Sports Network (NESN), which televises Red Sox baseball games and Boston Bruins hockey, shows ads from sports betting operators on the cable systems in the states where legal sports wagering is up and running. Last year in Connecticut, the telecasts included over 4,000 ads promoting responsible gambling, said NESN President and CEO Sean McGrail.

“When Massachusetts comes online, obviously, we’ll enter this market in a very similar fashion,” he said.

Commissioner Brad Hill said a lot of his concerns about advertising were assuaged during the roundtable.

“I’m pleasantly surprised from what I am hearing,” Hill said.

But Commission Chair Cathy Judd-Stein said she remains concerned about the “frequency and intensity” of advertising for sports wagering.

“I have a real fear that we will be inundated once we stand up sports wagering in a way that Massachusetts may not be prepared,” she said.

The roundtable did not include any discussion about ads for sports betting that might appear on social media, in print, or on billboards.

Commissioners are working to put final regulations in place so that the state’s casinos can begin accepting sports bets by the end of January with online betting to come a couple months later.

The record-setting tenure of Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno. The 2011 tornado and its recovery that remade the largest city in Western Massachusetts. The fallout from the deadly COVID outbreak at the Holyoke Soldiers Home. Those are just a few of the thousands and thousands of stories WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill has covered for WAMC in his nearly 17 years with the station.