Massachusetts Emerges As A Potential iGaming Candidate

Although Pennsylvania, California and New York are touted as the next states most likely to pass online gambling legislation, Massachusetts has now emerged as another potential runner after its Attorney General recently stated that daily fantasy sports was a skill game, and should therefore continue to be legal for Massachusetts residents.
Of course, ensuring a safe DFS landscape for players remains a priority for the state, including ensuring age and advertising restrictions are respected, as well as a suggested deposit limit of $1,000 per month. Nevertheless, Massachusetts State Attorney General Maura Healey (photo) said she hoped the companies would now proceed to adopt her regulations without the need for legislative approval. Naturally, Healey’s progressive approach has earned the praise of both FanDuel and DraftKings, with the latter issuing a statement that it intends to immediately take steps to implement the requested changes.
In the meantime, online poker fans have also welcomed the opinion of Maura Healey which differentiates daily fantasy sports from games of chance, as they are naturally hoping that she may also apply the same view to online poker. Even so, a lot of ground has to still be covered before state lawmakers decide to craft regulatory laws and move forward with iGaming legalization.
One way to speed up the process has been suggested by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) Chairman, Stephen Crosby, who proposed the introduction of an “omnibus” gambling bill that would not only includes DFS, but also online poker and a whole range of other games. As he recently told the Boston Business Journal:
“Would it make sense for the Legislature to try to craft an omnibus regulatory bill for all of these new electronic gaming technologies – because there’s so many of them? If they could craft a bill, which incorporated regulatory priorities, fundamental values, whatever, that could be applied to all of these games – e-sports, [daily fantasy sports], online poker, whatever all the new ones are – maybe then they could give it to some agency to implement, and the agency does the grunt work every six months making it apply to whatever the new technology is.”