{"id":518171,"date":"2022-12-07T12:48:17","date_gmt":"2022-12-07T20:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/?p=518171"},"modified":"2022-12-07T12:48:17","modified_gmt":"2022-12-07T20:48:17","slug":"massachusetts-gaming-commission-defers-mgm-springfield-retail-sports-betting-license-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/news\/betting\/massachusetts-gaming-commission-defers-mgm-springfield-retail-sports-betting-license-vote\/","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts Gaming Commission Defers MGM Springfield Retail Sports Betting License Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body><ul>\n<li><strong>The Massachusetts Gaming Commission deferred its vote on MGM Springfield&rsquo;s retail sports betting license until next week<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Commissioners require more information on BetMGM, which has an online sports betting hearing next week<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>If pattern holds true, Encore&rsquo;s application tomorrow will likely be deferred as well<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<p>We&rsquo;re beginning to see a pattern here so far with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/massachusetts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Massachusetts sports betting<\/a> retail license applications.<\/p>\n<p>For the second day in a row, members of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission unanimously deferred a vote on a retail sports betting license application. The Commissioners deferred the vote on MGM Springfield casino&rsquo;s retail application until next week so it can gather more information and receive answers on the casino&rsquo;s sports betting partnership with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/sportsbooks\/betmgm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BetMGM<\/a>.<\/p><div class=\"\" data-freestar-ad=\"__300x250 __300x250\" id=\"sportsbettingdime_InContent_1\">\n        <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\n            freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({\n                placementName: \"sportsbettingdime_InContent_1\",\n                slotId: \"sportsbettingdime_InContent_1\"\n            });\n        <\/script>\n    <\/div>\n\n<p>The same scenario occurred on Tuesday when the commission deferred a vote on Plainridge Park Casino&rsquo;s retail license to gather more information on its partnership with Barstool Sportsbook. Plainridge Park Casino, MGM Springfield, and tomorrow&rsquo;s applicant Encore Boston Harbor have all partnered with sports betting operators to run their retail and online sports betting operations.<\/p>\n<p>The Gaming Commission has so far made it clear that they will not vote on retail sports betting license applications until they hold scheduled hearings on the casino&rsquo;s online sports betting partnerships next week.<\/p>\n<p>Unless Encore Boston Harbor&rsquo;s application includes extensive information about partnership with WynnBET and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/sportsbooks\/caesars\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Caesars Sportsbook<\/a>, it will likely experience the same deferral.<\/p>\n<h2>Commissioners Require More Info on Online Partnerships<\/h2>\n<p>Commissioner<strong> Nakisha Skinner<\/strong> noted early in the proceedings today that she required more information on BetMGM before making a determination on MGM Springfield&rsquo;s retail sports betting application. BetMGM is mentioned a number of times in the application as an operator, she said, and clarification is needed on its role.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t have enough information to fully evaluate the MGM application,&rdquo; Skinner said.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">BREAKING: The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has deferred its vote on MGM Springfield's retail sports betting license. <\/p>\n<p>Additional information on MGM Springfield's partnership with <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BetMGM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@BetMGM<\/a> is required. The sports betting operator will run the casino's retail\/online operations.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; RLinnehanXL (@RLinnehanXl) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RLinnehanXl\/status\/1600579542996893708?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 7, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Gaming Commission Chair<strong> Cathy Judd-Stein<\/strong> agreed with Skinner. It&rsquo;s fair to say that not enough information is included in the application about BetMGM&rsquo;s role as a retail sportsbook operator in the application, she said.<\/p>\n<p>Massachusetts Gaming Commission Executive Director <strong>Karen Wells<\/strong> said BetMGM is being presented as a vendor in MGM Springfield&rsquo;s retail sports betting application and will be presented as a separate applicant during its online sports betting operator hearing next week.<\/p>\n<p>Skinner and O&rsquo;Brien did not agree with her assessment. Even if it&rsquo;s not being presented as such, BetMGM is indeed a prominent vendor in this retail application, Commissioner<strong> Eileen O&rsquo;Brien<\/strong> said, and without hearing additional information from the operator it makes it difficult to vote on MGM Springfield&rsquo;s application.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not having any doubt that when we get to BetMGM, and that material is in fact in front of us, that we&rsquo;re going to be moving forward,&rdquo; she said.<\/p>\n<p>Judd-Stein agreed and said the commission cannot make a ruling on the Category 1 retail sports betting license application until hearing its Category 3 online sports partnership application.<\/p>\n<h2>MGM Springfield Retail Sportsbook Plans<\/h2>\n<p>Earlier in the day, MGM Springfield COO and President<strong> Chris Kelley<\/strong> presented the casino&rsquo;s sportsbook plans to the commission. It began construction on a multi-million dollar sports lounge and betting area in April 2021 and completed the project in August 2021. The entire capital project cost $4 million and will eventually include a 45-foot viewing wall.<\/p>\n<p>Kelley said the casino is in position to move very quickly on retail sports betting when given the green light by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This is without a doubt a milestone moment,&rdquo; Kelley said.<\/p><div class=\"\" data-freestar-ad=\"__300x250 __300x250\" id=\"sportsbettingdime_InContent_2\">\n        <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\n            freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({\n                placementName: \"sportsbettingdime_InContent_2\",\n                slotId: \"sportsbettingdime_InContent_2\"\n            });\n        <\/script>\n    <\/div>\n\n<p>MGM retail sports betting is currently live in 24 jurisdictions, Kelley said, and has secured (or anticipates) having market access in 34 jurisdictions overall.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Another day, another deferral. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission did not vote on a retail sports betting license for MGM Springfield today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":151,"featured_media":511228,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"website_editions":[],"website_editions_hreflang":[],"website_editions_default_edition":"us","website_editions_htmllang":"us","content_studio_integration_article_id":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[219383],"tags":[219430],"content_buckets":[],"class_list":["post-518171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-betting","tag-massachusetts"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/151"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=518171"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":518214,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518171\/revisions\/518214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518171"},{"taxonomy":"content_buckets","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_buckets?post=518171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}