Last updated: January 27, 2025
Massachusetts lawmakers have filed new bills to legalize online casino gaming, adding slots, table games, and live dealer options to the state’s gambling mix. However, the Bay State’s history of thorough deliberation over past expansions like casino licensing and sports betting signals that approval may be slow.
Massachusetts Senate and House members have sponsored legislation to include online casino games in the variety of mobile gambling products that have been made available in Massachusetts. That’s good news for Massachusetts gamblers, but if history is any guide, this is an initiative that won’t materialize for years to come.
Particularly within its neighboring states in New England, Massachusetts was cautious with the regulation of land-based casino gaming and more recently sports betting. While budgetary requirements may speed up the process for iGaming, there remain potential roadblocks.
Massachusetts Rep. Daniel Cahill introduced this week, while Massachusetts Sen. Paul R. Feeney introduced SD 2240. Both relate to the regulation of online casino games in the commonwealth.
The bills would permit existing gaming license holders to provide players with live dealer games, online slots, and online table games on up to two different platforms. There would also be four opportunities for brands that do not have contracts with existing license holders to enter Massachusetts through “untethered” licenses.
In practice, existing relationships between Massachusetts gaming facility operators and the online gambling firms they outsource to for sports betting could be extended to encompass online casino play as well. However new alliances could be formed by casinos such as Encore Boston Harbor and MGM Springfield.
In addition to licensing revenue, Massachusetts would get 20% of revenue from iGaming from the licensees. That is if bills become law, which by Massachusetts history, may take some time.
The wheels of government have indeed turned slowly on the matter of Massachusetts gambling expansion. Laws to establish licenses for casino gaming in physical locations first emerged in 2008 but weren’t completed until 2011.
In the same way, sports betting legislation was introduced in 2019 but none of them reached the finish line until 2022. The sale of lottery tickets being extended to online purchases in Massachusetts also took several years to materialize.
Up to now, there are no signs that iGaming deliberations will be faster. Actually, Massachusetts Rep. David Muradian informed PlayUSA in August 2024 that “realistically, the process to pass iGaming could take a few years.”
Muradian has a bill (HD 2393) pending on gambling that is in draft form. Muradian announced in August that he would come up with a proposal to legalize online casinos in Massachusetts.
Muradian also said he would approach the sponsor of stand-alone bills to work together. At the time of this writing, neither Cahill, Feeney, nor Muradian has responded to inquiries about working together in their offices on iGaming.
As negotiations proceed on the bills, the stakeholders will declare their positions. At least one organization will probably be opposed.
In late 2024, Massachusetts put a provision to permit the Massachusetts Lottery to offer tickets online into its budget. The Lottery initially intended to have the online platform up and running by December of 2025. Plans are now being delayed to a launch in 2026.
With that rollout, the Lottery would be able to voice cannibalization concerns. Meanwhile, owners of the state’s two casinos, MGM Resorts and Wynn Entertainment, could be in favor of the expansion.
MGM owns half of BetMGM and would be likely to bring the top online casino brand to Massachusetts. Though Wynn has been less enthusiastic about iGaming in general, it has invested in online gaming in markets where it is physically present.
The income that online casino taxes would generate for the state may also be a selling point, as Muradian hinted. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is examining that effect along with other aspects of legalized online casino apps.
Plainridge Park slot parlor may be a wild card but presumably, everybody concerned will have an abundance of time to shape their positions. Action on these iGaming bills in haste would be contrary to precedent in Massachusetts.
