{"id":621390,"date":"2024-05-23T07:59:17","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T14:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/?p=621390"},"modified":"2024-05-23T07:59:17","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T14:59:17","slug":"massachusetts-senator-proposes-155-sports-betting-tax-increase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/news\/betting\/massachusetts-senator-proposes-155-sports-betting-tax-increase\/","title":{"rendered":"Massachusetts Senator Proposes 155% Sports Betting Tax Increase"},"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>A Massachusetts Senator has proposed a 155% increase to the state&rsquo;s online sports betting tax rate<\/li>\n<li>Sen. John F. Keenan (D &ndash; Norfolk\/Plymouth) has proposed an increase to the state&rsquo;s online sports betting tax rate to 51%<\/li>\n<li>Keenan&rsquo;s tax rate is an amendment in the Senate&rsquo;s proposed FY 2025 state budget<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr>\n<p>Another state is mulling over a potential increase to its&nbsp; sports betting tax rate.<\/p>\n<p>Sen. <strong>John F. Keenan<\/strong> (D &ndash; Norfolk\/Plymouth) proposed an amendment to the Senate&rsquo;s FY 2025 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/us\/massachusetts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Massachusetts<\/a> budget that will increase the state&rsquo;s online sports betting tax rate from 20% to 51%, a 155% increase.<\/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 Senate is currently debating the FY 2025 budget after being sent the House&rsquo;s nearly $58 billion state budget last month.<\/p>\n<h2>Latest State to Propose Sports Betting Tax Increase<\/h2>\n<p>Massachusetts is now the third state actively considering an increase to its sports betting tax rate. Illinois legislators are considering a proposal from Gov.<strong> J.B. Pritzker<\/strong> (D) to raise the state&rsquo;s sports betting tax rate from 15% to 35% and a New Jersey Senator recently introduced a bill to raise the Garden State&rsquo;s rate from 13% to 30%.<\/p>\n<p>Keenan&rsquo;s amendment, if approved, would skyrocket Massachusetts into a first place tie with New York in as the highest taxed sports betting state in the country.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-621394 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/app\/uploads\/media\/4\/mass-amendment.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"593\" height=\"341\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/app\/uploads\/media\/4\/mass-amendment.png 593w, https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/app\/uploads\/media\/4\/mass-amendment-300x173.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 593px) 100vw, 593px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Last year, Keenan also introduced an amendment for the FY 2024 budget to earmark $500,000 for &ldquo;compulsive gamblers&rsquo; treatment supports and an independent research study to determine the extent and scope of harms caused by gambling products regulated by the commonwealth.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>If approved and included in the budget, the new tax rate would likely prove to be another high hurdle for operators to overcome for entry into Massachusetts. This comes a day after a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/news\/betting\/sportsbooks-no-show-massachusetts-roundtable-on-limiting-customers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">public meeting<\/a> was held by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on the practice of sports betting operators limiting customers.<\/p>\n<p>In April, the state reported approximately $49.3 million in taxable online sports wagering revenue, which resulted in $9.9 million in tax revenue for the month. If taxed at a 51% rate, this would have led to more than $25.1 million in tax revenue for the month.<\/p>\n<p>Professional gambler and founder of Unabated Sports, <strong>Jack Andrews<\/strong>, criticized the state at the roundtable for making it difficult for smaller sports betting operators to do business in the commonwealth.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Your barriers to entry are very high. Your tax rates and your licensing fees are very high,&rdquo; he said at the meeting.<\/p>\n<p>An increase to 51% of taxable revenue would likely not make things easier for operators in the state. Add in a $1 million licensing fee, an extensive licensing process from the MGC, 21+ language on all public advertisements, and other hurdles and that makes entry an arduous hill to climb.<\/p>\n<h2>New Jersey, Illinois Mulling Tax Increases<\/h2>\n<p>As mentioned, New Jersey and Illinois are both considering tax increases for their sports betting operators.<\/p>\n<p>New Jersey Sen. <strong>John F. McKeon (D-27)<\/strong> introduced&nbsp;<a class=\"js-segment-normal-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/pub.njleg.state.nj.us\/Bills\/2024\/S3500\/3064_I1.PDF\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">S3064<\/a> last month, which aims to increase both the state&rsquo;s sports betting and iGaming tax rates to 30% of gross gaming revenue. The state&rsquo;s sports betting tax rate is currently at 13% and its iGaming rate is 15%.<\/p>\n<p>Illinois Governor Pritzker&rsquo;s budget proposal includes a sports betting tax increase to 35% from 15%, which estimates an additional $200 million in annual sports betting tax revenue. If approved, the new rate would go into effect on July 1, 2024.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Massachusetts Senator has proposed a 155% increase to the state&rsquo;s online sports betting tax rate Sen. John F. Keenan (D &ndash; Norfolk\/Plymouth) has proposed an increase to the state&rsquo;s online sports betting tax rate to 51% Keenan&rsquo;s tax rate is an amendment in the Senate&rsquo;s proposed FY 2025 state budget Another state is mulling &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/news\/betting\/massachusetts-senator-proposes-155-sports-betting-tax-increase\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":151,"featured_media":617852,"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-621390","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\/621390","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=621390"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621390\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":621399,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/621390\/revisions\/621399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=621390"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=621390"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=621390"},{"taxonomy":"content_buckets","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sportsbettingdime.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_buckets?post=621390"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}