The Massachusetts Gaming Commission will be conducting another public roundtable discussion on betting limits imposed by sports betting operators but this time the sportsbook providers have agreed to attend.
Taboo Topic
Last month, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) held its “Sports Wagering Operator Wager Limitations Roundtable” but none of the mobile sportsbooks in the state attended except Bally’s, which has a license but is inactive until their scheduled launch on June 27th. Needless to say, the MGC was not pleased and has been vocal about the perceived snub.
“I have to admit this discussion was not as meaningful as I had hoped it would be,” MGC commissioner Nakisha Skinner said. “I do think we have not scratched the surface. … I feel like this was not a good use of our time today being that we didn’t have our primary stakeholders as part of the discussion.”
A colleague of Skinner’s, MGC commissioner Brad Hill, echoed her sentiments. “I share in Commissioner Skinner’s frustration, and I’ll go so far as to say ‘anger’ that I have today for not being able to get a lot more information that I thought we would be able to get in order to start this conversation. Although it started today, it didn’t give us the starting point I hoped to get today. It was very disappointing to me.”
Risk Management Riddles
Although the sports betting operators did not attend, they did write to the MGC and all were uniform in noting that their betting limiting protocols are engineered with proprietary information that they did not want to be disclosed to the general public.
Boston-based DraftKings, the state’s top-rated sportsbook, submitted the following reason for their absence at the roundtable:
“Any meaningful discussion on wagering limits would necessarily involve disclosure of the company’s confidential risk management practices and other commercially sensitive business information.” – DraftKings
A Fresh Start
A second roundtable on the topic of sportsbooks applying betting limits on their customers is being discussed but this time the sportsbooks executives will be attending. Apparently, they all got the message that their absence from the first meeting was a sign of disrespect to the regulatory body that governs them. The MGC wants answers as to why bettors suddenly have their limits cut even if they have historically lost money to that sportsbook.
MGC Interim Chair Jordan Maynard has said all of the sportsbooks have replied in the affirmative to a second roundtable discussion. “Every operator has said they’d be happy to educate us on limitations,” Maynard said.
Roundtable Ruminations
However, Commissioner Skinner was not confident that the platform providers would be forthcoming even if they did attend. “What changed?” Skinner said. “Why is the second time around here better than the first?”
“It can’t just be a roundtable for the sake of a roundtable where they’re coming, and they’re saying, ‘We can’t talk because this is sensitive information,’” Skinner added.
The crux of the concern that the MGC has can be found in Chairman Maynard’s statement that he made last month.
“Some claim they were not in violation of house rules, state laws or regulations, or other authorized acts when they were limited. It was the understanding of the MGC team that operators have the right to limit their risk by blocking those attempting to circumvent the rules. If a player is violating rules, laws, or regulations, they should not be welcome to access a market,” Maynard said. “That said, many at the MGC, myself included, were wondering if there were patrons who were wagering honestly who were being limited.”
“There is a worry that if we have operators limiting patrons who are playing by the rules, that limitation will naturally incentivize those players to turn to the illegal market,” he noted.
