At long last, legal online sports betting is now available in Massachusetts! Following the state’s retail sports betting launch earlier in the year, Massachusetts officially debuted its online betting market on March 10, 2023. Bettors in Massachusetts can now utilize some of the nation’s best online betting sites from all corners of the state.
Read on as we take a tour of everything related to sports betting in Massachusetts. We’ll talk regulations and rules, discuss the online sportsbooks currently available in Massachusetts, the sign up process, deposits and withdrawals, and of course – the best sports betting offers in MA.
Massachusetts online sports betting is now legal and LIVE. We’ve compiled our list of the top online betting offers in the state of Massachusetts.
If you or a loved one is experiencing problems with gambling and needs support, call 1-800-327-5050 or visit https://helplinema.org to speak with a trained specialist free and confidentially 24/7. LiveChat with a GameSense Advisor at GameSenseMA.com or call 1-800-GAM-1234.
Massachusetts sports betting updates
It’s been an eventful build up to the launch of sports betting in MA. Here are some of the more notable developments in recent weeks.
May 25: Fanatics Sportsbook announces it has officially launched in Massachuetts!
March 10: Online sports betting has officially begun in the state of Massachusetts! Follow our live blog for complete coverage.
The bill gave the green light to both legal online and retail sports betting in the state, both of which are now up and running. The bill has room for up to 15 licenses and calls for a moderate 20% tax rate on gross sports wagering revenue. The bill was officially finalized with a signature from Governor Charlie Baker less than two weeks after it was agreed upon by legislators.
Massachusetts was the third state in 2022 to officially legalize sports betting and just the second state to launch an online market in 2023, joining Ohio.
Legal retail betting began in the state on January 31st, with legal online betting following a few weeks later on March 10, 2023.
The Massachusetts State House in Boston; Photo: Shutterstock
Massachusetts journey to legal sports betting
Back in 2019, Massachusetts lawmakers looked like they’d be on the leading edge of legal sports betting – in New England, anyway. Legislators and Governor Charlie Baker filed a total of a dozen sports betting bills. Baker included a push for legalization in his state of the state address that year.
The bills were all over the map, some with stand-alone mobile, one with an “integrity fee,” and all with different tax structures.
All those bills created a bottleneck, and caused the key committee that would handle sports betting to slow things down. The 2019 session passed with no action. The 2020 session saw similar legalization efforts fizzle, and many observers wondered what it was going to take for the state legislators to actually pass any sort of sports betting bill.
The 2021 legislative session started the same way as previous years. Several sports betting bills were introduced that covered every aspect of legalization efforts, from licensing fees to a prohibition on wagering on college sports to making it legal for 18-year-olds to wager.
Interest in the issue was high, but the legislature once again was unable to line up a bill that could pass both the House and Senate.
Boston Harbor and Financial District at twilight, Massachusetts; Photo: Shutterstock
Neighboring states add pressure
This occurred as neighboring states ramped up their legalization efforts, with legislative breakthroughs bringing mobile betting to New York and Connecticut by early 2022.
New Hampshire and Rhode Island both offer mobile betting and continuously attracted thousands of Bay State bettors who crossed the borders to place their bets.
As 2021 wore on, legislators were off-and-on with sports betting. Progress appeared and then quickly washed away amongst disagreements and competing priorities. Nothing ever seemed to break through.
Even in July, when good news emerged that the House had come together to pass a bill that ticked all the boxes and would bring mobile betting to the state, the Senate remained noncommittal. Similar to what played out in Ohio, legalization in Massachusetts seemed to remain elusive. That is, until it wasn’t.
Massachusetts finally agrees on sports betting in 2022
Despite years of interest from all areas of the Massachusetts state government, agreements on key details remained elusive. Chief among these details was whether or not betting on college sports would be allowed, and what tax rate would be optimal for the state’s betting market.
On the final day of the legislative session in Massachusetts, July 31, it was time to make something happen. A marathon session resulted in Speaker Ron Mariano announcing just after 5:00am local time on August 1st that the Sports Betting Conference Committee had made a deal to bring sports betting to the state.
I want to thank @RepMichlewitz and @JerryParisella, all the conferees and my colleagues in the House, as well as our partners in the Senate for recognizing the incredible economic opportunity that legalized sports betting presents. (2/2)
Yes it is! Online sports betting officially began in the state on March 10, 2023. In-person, retail betting began a few weeks prior on January 31. It’s now completely legal to wager with a licensed sportsbook from anywhere in the state of Massachusetts!
Who is able to place real-money sports bets in Massachusetts?
Those over the age of 21 who are not affiliated with a professional or college team or sport can place bets in Massachusetts. Players also must be physically located in the state at the time of bet placement, and not on any restricted lists.
How many online sportsbooks will be available in Massachusetts?
Massachusetts law supports up to fifteen online sportsbooks. However, there are currently only six that have launched in the state.
Where can Massachusetts residents place sports bets in person?
Three of the state’s retail casinos and horse tracks are currently offering in-person wagering:
MGM Springfield
Encore Boston Harbor
Plainridge Park
Is in-person registration be required for online betting?
Thankfully not! There is no in-person registration provision in Massachusetts. You can sign up for one of the state’s best mobile sports betting apps and begin betting from anywhere in the state of Massachusetts.
What bet types and betting markets are available in Massachusetts?
MA bettors are able to wager on college sports (though not on in-state teams), professional, and Olympic sports along with overseas professional sports such as European soccer and cricket. Essentially everything other than in-state college teams are fair game when it comes to wagering with Massachusetts online sportsbooks. Oh, and there’s a provision that does allow you to wager on in-state college teams as long as they are playing in a tournament with more than four teams.
Now that sports betting is legal and live in Massachusetts, what are the key components of the new industry? Let’s take a look.
Massachusetts sports betting tax rate
The online sports betting tax rate in Massachusetts has been set at 20%, which is quite reasonable for the area. For comparison, New Jersey legalized with a very low, operator-friendly 8.5% rate. However, Massachusetts couldeasily have gone the other way. New York set their tax rate at a whopping 51%, while Pennsylvania wasn’t far behind at 36%.
Generally speaking the higher the tax rate, the more difficult it is for even the best sports betting sites to operate at a profit. This can trickle down to consumers in the form of less competitive pricing, odds, and promotions. Massachusetts landed in a healthy range at 20%. While it’s not the best, it’s certainly not the worst.
The 20% figure will benefit Massachusetts online sportsbooks, bettors, and the state coffers alike. Notably, the sports betting tax rate for retail betting is slightly lower at 15%.
Betting on college sports is permitted, excluding in-state schools
It is legal to bet on college sports in Massachusetts, just not on Massachusetts-based colleges. This is a common compromise amongst states that have legalized betting to this point. College sports are such an important draw that it doesn’t make sense to leave them off of a betting sheet. However, there is often concern surrounding bets placed on amateur athletes.
This way, Massachusetts sports bettors can still bet on college sports, but local athletes are protected from any associated gambling-related pressures that may arise.
For reference, once the betting market has launched in Massachusetts you will not be able to bet on:
Boston College
Boston University
UMass
Harvard
Northeastern
Holy Cross
…or any other MASS-based college or University
For example, you canbet on college football in Massachusetts, just not on in-state teams. There is, however, a minor caveat included that allows locals to wager on Massachusetts schools if they end up playing in a tournament such as March Madness, with greater than four participants. All other regular season games will be off limits, but tournament games will be the rare exception.
Licensing operators in Massachusetts
Massachusetts state casinos and racetracks are all eligible to apply for a retail betting license and host in-person betting on location.
For online betting, there can be seven online-only, stand-alone mobile licenses. In addition, all of the retail casinos in the state, of which there are three, will be allowed two online sports betting skins each, and the in-state race tracks, one each. Add them all up and you’re looking at fifteen online sportsbooks in Massachusetts by the time the dust settles.
The most important takeaway from this is that Massachusetts did not follow states like Oregon and New Hampshire with a lottery-run, monopoly-style set up where there is just one online sports betting option in the state.
There are currently many choices for online betting in Massachusetts, which is great news. More competition means better promotions, better pricing, and an overall superior online betting experience for consumers.
Online sportsbooks in Massachusetts
There are currently seven online sportsbooks that are live in the state of Massachusetts, and two more that have been approved by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission that are expected to launch in the near future.
Betr, and Bally Bet are expected to take a little more time before their products are made available in Massachusetts. Betr in particular has already shared plans to begin accepting wagers in Massachusetts in April.
Today is an exciting day – Massachusetts has officially launched online sports betting! It is an incredible honor and privilege to be 1 of only 10 operators to receive a license in the Commonwealth. We at @betr are excited to go-live in April. 1/4
FanDuel has been busy asserting its dominance throughout the legal betting landscape, but they could have their work cut out for them in Massachusetts. Their old Daily Fantasy Sports rival, DraftKings, is playing on home turf. DraftKings is headquartered in Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood and already has a monopoly in digital sports betting in neighboring New Hampshire. Now a publicly traded company, it’s a top operator in practically every state with legal mobile sports betting. DraftKings and FanDuel are the clear market leaders and will be hard to top for Massachusetts sports betting.
Brands like BetMGM, Wynn, and even the intriguing newcomers like Fanatics Sportsbook will also surely factor in to the equation. However, as a consumer, you don’t have to choose just one. Bettors in Massachusetts can create accounts, and enjoy the perks of betting on each and every one of the legal sportsbook apps in Massachusetts listed above.
Land-based sportsbooks in Massachusetts
Under Massachusetts sports betting law each of the retail casinos and racetracks in the state are approved to open an on-site retail sportsbook. Massachusetts currently has three land-based gaming venues – two full-service casinos and one slot parlor.
(1) MGM Springfield – BetMGM Sportsbook
1 MGM Way Springfield, MA 01103
MGM opened its sprawling Springfield complex in August 2018. The full-service casino was the first of its kind in Massachusetts. Springfield is located about a half-hour from the Connecticut border, which for many years dominated the New England casino landscape. It has two full-service, Las Vegas-style tribal resort casinos dating to the 1980s.
MGM Springfield kicked off the state’s in-person sports betting market by unveiling its brand new BetMGM Sportsbook on January 31, 2023. Former Boston Bruin Ray Bourque joined three of Massachusetts’ politicians in placing the state’s first legal wagers at BetMGM.
(2) Encore Boston Harbor – WynnBET Sportsbook
1 Broadway
Everett, MA 02149
Wynn Resorts has also opened its Encore Boston Harbor, located in Everett, Mass., about five miles from downtown Boston and fronting the harbor.
The luxury resort has a high-end art collection, luxury retail shops and plenty of public amenities in addition to the casino floor. Like MGM Springfield, the Encore debuted its brand new, state-of-the-art WynnBET Sportsbook on January 31, 2023. Numerous local legends, including former Boston Red Sox fan-favorite Johnny Damon, were on site to help kick off the festivities. The brand’s latest in-person sports betting facility is loaded with more than 70 TVs and a 10-foot tall, 123-foot-long video wall for patrons to enjoy.
(3) Plainridge Park Casino – Barstool Sportsbook
301 Washington St. Plainville, MA 02762
The oldest gaming venue in Massachusetts is the Plainridge Park Casino. It is a slot parlor that opened in 2015 and is operated by Penn National Gaming.
The slots parlor is part of a bigger venue that includes a harness-racing track. It has been in existence since 1999, but has had myriad legal issues. The venue is the only harness-racing facility in the state, and it offers simulcast wagering.
Plainridge Park Casino officially opened the doors to its brand new retail Barstool Sportsbook on January 31, 2023. Former New England Patriots LB Rob Ninkovich capped off the property’s ribbon-cutting ceremony by placing the book’s first wager: a $50 bet on the Boston Bruins to win the 2023 Stanley Cup.
DraftKings in Massachusetts
The daily fantasy giant was started in almost the same way as Microsoft and Apple — in the garage of one of its owners. The principals in the company, Jason Robins, Matt Kalish and Paul Liberman, all worked together at VistaPrint before launching their business on Major League Baseball’s Opening Day in 2012.
During its first six years of existence, DraftKings was strictly a daily fantasy company, but on Aug. 1, 2018, it entered the sports betting market when it took the first legal, digital sports bet in New Jersey.
DraftKings MA Timeline
Event
2012
Launch
2018
Entered the sports betting market
2018 - 2021
Expanded to 12 states
2023
DraftKings Sportsbook launches in its home state of Massachusetts
Between 2018 and July 2021, DraftKings expanded its online presence to 12 states. It remains one of the top operators in all of them. On April 24, 2020, DraftKings went public and is now listed on the NASDAQ under the symbol DKNG.
Prior to going public, DraftKings had explored a merger with rival FanDuel in 2016. The Federal Trade Commission blocked the plan, claiming it would give the pair a monopoly.
The merger was called off in mid-2019. Fox Sports (now Disney), the Kraft Group (owners of the New England Patriots) and Wellington Management (financial firm) each have a stake in DraftKings. The company also has partnerships or agreements with Caesars Entertainment (now part of Eldorado Resorts) and Penn National, as well as other gaming and hospitality interests.
DraftKings has always had its headquarters in Boston, and in 2019, moved into new offices in the city’s Back Bay neighborhood. The 105,000-square-foot space is the largest single-floor space in Boston.
In March 2023 DraftKings Sportsbook finally launched in Massachusetts, accepting legal wagers from bettors throughout the state.
Sports betting states around Massachusetts
Massachusetts was among the final sports betting dominos to fall in New England. Rhode Island was among the first states out of the blocks in terms of legalizing and going live with its Lottery-run platforms. Governor Gina Raimondo signed sports betting into law in June 2018. The state took its first bet before the end of the year.
It had a regional monopoly (on the legal market) until December 2019 when DraftKings launched its mobile platform in New Hampshire. Though both states offer patrons a chance to bet online from anywhere in the state, there is no competition.
There is a single commercial operator — DraftKings in New Hampshire and IGT in Rhode Island — offering odds. And in both jurisdictions, sports wagering is offered through the state lottery.
Connecticut began accepting legal wagers in October of 2021, and was followed closely by New York in January 2022.
Maine legalized sports betting in 2022, but is undergoing one of the more exhaustive launch build ups that we’ve seen. Despite the Governor putting pen to paper in May 2022, we aren’t anticipating legal bets until the latter part of 2023.
Vermont sports betting is also on the way. After legalizing in May 2023, somewhere between two and six online betting apps will arrive in VT soon.
Banking options in Massachusetts
Online sportsbooks in Massachusetts utilize most of the same banking options that are available in other betting states – the only exception will be credit cards. Massachusetts does not allow deposits through credit cards. Other popular methods that will be relied upon instead include:
ACH/eCheck
Online bank transfer
PayPal
Site-specific prepaid debit cards
Cash at the casino cages
Skrill
Paper check
No credit card deposits in Massachusetts
Interestingly enough, Massachusetts did elect to ban the use of credit cards as a deposit method for MA online sportsbooks. In most states, credit cards rank among the most popular sports betting banking methods.
They’re convenient, and everyone knows how to use them, but ultimately the legislature went in a different direction. Not allowing bettors to deposit on credit, on balance, seems like a reasonable choice to make.
Jill has covered everything from steeplechase to the NFL and then some during a more than 30-year career in sports journalism. The highlight of her career was covering Oakland Raiders during the Charles Woodson/Jon Gruden era, including the infamous “Snow Bowl” and the Raiders’ 2003 trip to Super Bowl XXXVII. Her specialty these days is covering sports betting legislation across the country. You can reach Jill at [email protected]
BetMGM Sportsbook
FanDuel Sportsbook
WynnBET Sportsbook
