Massachusetts House and Senate agree on sports betting bill in final hours
| By Daniel O'Boyle
A committee of members of the Massachusetts state House and Senate has agreed on a sports betting bill with only hours remaining in the state’s legislative session.
Each of the state’s two legislative chambers passed a sports betting bill, but with drastic differences.
The House had passed a bill in July 2021 in line with other US sports betting bills, featuring a 12.5% tax rate, a $5.0m licence fee and little product or marketing restrictions.
However, the Senate’s version of the bill included more restrictions, including a ban on many forms of marketing such as promotional bets. The bill would also ban marketing during a live sporting event and would only allow online marketing if 85% of the audience “is reasonably expected to be 21 years of age or older”.