Massachusetts special commission favouring omnibus approach
News on 8 Jun 2017
News on 8 Jun 2017
The Massachusetts Special Commission on Online Gaming, Fantasy Sports Gaming and Daily Fantasy Sports, tasked by state lawmakers with studying and presenting recommendations on the regulation of intrastate-legalised online gambling (see previous reports), met Tuesday in anticipation of a July 31, 2017 deadline for submission of its report.
State House News (SHN) reports the nine-member committee met to discuss issues raised during public hearings and is seemingly leaning towards recommending an omnibus approach in which online gambling, fantasy sports and even eSports would fall under one law, overseen by one regulatory body.
“There are three options I think that we will look at,” Rep. Joseph Wagner, who co-chairs the commission, said. “There’s the gaming option, a type of structure where we have a separate law that would govern this; the omnibus approach, which is where we would give some authority some authority to oversee all of this; or to just simply let it play out for some time or more going forward.”
According to the SHN report, most commission members who shared their points of view Tuesday indicated that they would favor the omnibus approach.
“Our view is that the Legislature’s job is to determine whether or not we want gambling online to be legal, and if the answer to that is yes, which it sort of presumptively appears to be, then come up with a regulatory environment that can deal with all of these things as they come down the pike and not have to try to be in a reactive mode,” said Chairman of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, Stephen Crosby.
Crosby believes Massachusetts land-based casinos should get the first “crack” at online casino licenses, if the Commission recommends legalisation, saying their interests should be seriously considered.
Commissioners have until June 16, 2017 to submit their final thoughts to co-Chairs Sen. Eileen Donoghue and Rep. Joseph Wagner before a final meeting is convened prior to the deadline.
