The Massachusetts Gaming Commission voted to “set a late January launch for in-person sports betting,” putting Super Bowl LVII “in play for legal wagers,” according to Gayla Cawley of the BOSTON HERALD. Those seeking to place a bet online “will have to wait until early March, a date the Commission set” to line up with March Madness. The new timeline, recommended by Gaming Commission Exec Dir Karen Wells, was "approved Friday by a 4-0 vote," with one abstention. Commissioners “were split on whether to move forward with what was repeatedly referred to as an ‘aggressive’ timeline” now in place. The commission “is familiar with the 15 anticipated applicants” for in-person betting licenses, as all are establishments that already exist such as casinos and racetracks. There is more of an “unknown with mobile operators,” which would be “new business entities in the state and would be competing for only seven licenses that are untethered to casinos and other in-person gaming facilities.” More than 40 mobile betting companies “have notified the commission they intend to apply for a temporary license.” Wells said that this means the commission “will need extra time to select the top applicants” (BOSTON HERALD, 10/8). In Boston, Hayden Bird noted the commission "may reconsider these dates should there be staff, extraordinary circumstances, or public comment brought up that would not allow the launch on these dates.” The approximate dates “represent the most specific timeline yet in the discussion of sports betting’s launch in the state” (BOSTON.com, 10/7).
