Massachusetts Still Waiting for Online Gambling Legalisation

Massachusetts not yet ready to regulate gambling and lottery.

For a while, it seemed Massachusetts was on its way to join a group consisting of only few states, where online gambling was legal.

No specific dates were set, but it was suggested such legislation could be adopted this year. Sadly, it is likely that 2017 won’t be that year.

According to Massachusetts Senate President, Stan Rosenberg, the Bay State is not prepared to make such move. In a recent interview on Boston Herald Radio, Rosenberg said Massachussetts wasn’t ready to regulate online gambling or the lottery.

Is the Fear Substantiated?

However, he didn’t reject the possibility of legalizing online gambling, stating the legislators could “potentially act next year”.

Rosenberg said the legislators were to blame for the halt. He said they were unsure how would the legalisation of online gambling reflect on their brick and mortar counterparts.

Is there a solid reason for concern, one may ask. New Jersey is one of the US states where online gambling is legal, and the web-based operations hasn’t harmed the land-based casinos in Atlantic City. But, it seems the Massachusetts’ lawmakers are not reassured by this.

Lost Opportunity

On the other hand, Deb Goldberg, Massachusetts State Treasure and a fervent advocate of online gambling legalisation, sent a clear message to the Senate. He said this was a lost opportunity, which could mean the state would miss out on a couple of years of hefty revenue.

Goldberg doesn’t think online gambling can be a replacement for brick and mortar casinos, and many of those supporting the legalisation share his opinion. He said New Jersey was a good example of how online gambling could improve the results of the land-based casinos.

Lottery Commissioner, Anthony Salvidio, said the hesitation of the State’s legislators could have dire consequences on the traditional lottery sales and could lead to a complete collapse of Lottery revenue.

The End or Not?

Nothing is over, at least not yet. A special commission will present its findings to the State’s lawmakers by the end of July.

We don’t know for sure what will the Commission on Online Gaming, Fantasy Sports Gaming and Daily Fantasy Sports say in front of the Senate, but Rosenberg say we shouldn’t get our hopes up.