The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has awarded six companies category three licences following a string of public meetings.
Commissioners voted on the preliminary suitability of six operators that applied for an untethered category three licence, with Bally Bet, FanDuel, Betr, DraftKings, Betway and PointsBet, all gaining approval.
During the voting process, all companies, apart from Betr, received a temporary untethered category three sports wagering operator licence by an unanimous vote.
One of the discussion points relating to Betr were initially centred around professional fighter Jake Paul, Co-Founder Betr. The online sportsbook, as of writing, does not offer combat sports betting, but the commission has expressed its concerns about the if the group ever does offer betting in the future and how they can maintain integrity.
However, as the discussion went on, the commissioners realised the scope of this could extend beyond just Paul and would better be handled with regulations. Betr were found preliminary suitable for the same licence by a vote of four against one.
On the decision, Co-Founder, Joey Levy, posted on his official Twitter account: “Thrilled to share Betr has been approved for a temporary sports wagering licence in Massachusetts. We do not take this honour and privilege lightly and thank the commissioners for their hard work and thoughtful diligence during this process.
“We are excited to bring our unique product and media efforts to the Commonwealth, while continuing to do so as a leader in responsible gaming.”
sports wagering licence in Massachusetts. We do not take this honour and privilege lightly and thank the commissioners for their hard work and thoughtful diligence during this process. “We are excited to bring our unique product and media efforts to the Commonwealth, while continuing to do so as a leader in responsible gaming.”Thrilled to share @betr has been approved for a temporary sports wagering license in Massachusetts. We do not take this honor and privilege lightly and thank the commissioners for their hard work and thoughtful diligence during this process. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/mqrTrmadW1
— Joey Levy (@joeyslevy) January 20, 2023
Retail sports wagering is scheduled to launch in Massachusetts on January 31, with online and mobile sports wagering targeted to launch in March of this year.
Massachusetts General Laws permits the MGC to award no more than seven category three sports wagering licences not connected to a category one or category two sports wagering licensee.
“We are thrilled that the MGC has awarded DraftKings a mobile sports betting operator licence in our home state of Massachusetts,” said DraftKings, CEO, Jason Robins.
“We want to thank Chair Judd-Stein, Commissioner’s O’Brien, Hill, Skinner, and Maynard and the MGC staff for their hard work and diligence to launch mobile sports betting in the Commonwealth.”
Previously, five companies had been found preliminarily suitable for a category three sports wagering licence tethered to a category one. Those operators were WynnBet, Caesars, BetMGM, Penn Sports Interactive and Fanatics Betting & Gaming.
Moving forward, a full suitability review will now be undertaken by the MGC’s Investigations and Enforcement Bureau. Following a temporary licence being granted, operators must obtain an operations certificate and meet additional conditions before they can accept wagers on approved sporting events.
