Potential start date for Massachusetts mobile sports betting

Nearly two weeks ago, the three land-based casinos in Massachusetts (Encore Boston Harbor, MGM Springfield and Plainridge Park Casino) started to accept the first sports wagers. Now, we may only be a month away from seeing online sportsbooks do the same.

This morning, a potential launch date of 10 March for mobile sports betting in the Bay State was put on the table by Karen Wells, the state's Gaming Commission Executive Director.

Many sports fans can get behind that date as it would be just in time for March Madness which is set to begin on 14 March. This would give the operators a few days to get their feet wet in the new market before the craziness of two consecutive days with 16 college basketball games.

“I’m proposing a tentative launch date for the Category 3 mobile operators, or online operators, of March 10,” said Massachusetts Gaming Commissioner Executive Director Karen Wells. “The suggestion is we do it that date because it gives us the weekend if there’s any issues before March Madness starts, and then there’s a Monday where we could have a Commission meeting if necessary if there’s any issues before the big tournament starts. The recommendation is that we start at 10 a.m. There are some events that folks might want to wager on, on March 10 itself, so that’s why the recommendation came down.”

Three weeks ago, the Gaming Commission began determining which operators were suitable to hold an online sports betting license, and the big names already present in many states throughout the U.S., including DraftKings and FanDuel who are a couple of the ones who have obtained licenses and are ready to be apart of that launch day.