Massachusetts Making The Case For Online Gambling

A recent Gaming Compliance report named Massachusetts as one of 10 US states looking to regulate or expand online gambling this year. Already Massachusetts Gaming Commission has awarded The Bay State its first slots parlor license, with licenses for land based casinos expected to follow next winter. Therefore, many believe the next step for Massachusetts is to get the ball rolling on a state online gambling industry.
Lending credence to the claim is that according to Clyde W. Barrow, director of the Center for Policy Analysis at University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, around 2% of Massachusetts’ population presently gambles online and so regulating the industry would be a way of ensuring valuable revenues don’t end up in the pockets of offshore operators. Furthermore,  Barrow said that rather than serving as competition for land-based casinos, online gambling could actually help compliment the venues by allowing people to learn gambling games at home before heading to the casino.
In recent weeks, both the State Lottery Commission and the Massachusetts Gaming Commission have given strong indications that they would like to introduce some type of online gambling bill. In addition, the State Lottery Commission has also called upon the state legislature to allow online lotteries and perhaps even poker online so as to experiment with online services and take the first tentative steps towards legalizing online gaming. As tate Lottery Assistance Executive Director Beth Bresnahan, explains:
“Rather in the interests of preserving and protecting the Lottery, we simply want to ensure that we have a solid understanding of the technology and logistics of online gaming should this market space become more competitive. Existing law does not permit us to conduct such experimentation.”
Nevertheless, Massachusetts has still a long way to go if it is to overcome resistance from anti-online gambling proponents and embrace online gambling. Despite being one of the busiest states looking to expand into online gambling, for instance, last year Massachusetts failed on three occasions to have online gambling bills passed.