DraftKings lobbies for sports betting

The DFS company DraftKings is lobbying in Massachusetts to be able to offer sports betting.

US.- DraftKings, along with one of the state’s biggest technology industry associations, is advocating for Massachusetts to legalise sports betting. Both parties believe that the new industry would boost the local tech sector.

Mark Gallagher, vice president of policy and governmental affairs for the Massachusetts High Technology Council, said: “We definitely see some opportunity for Massachusetts-based companies or even companies that are yet to exist to benefit from sports wagering, all those things, cybersecurity, AI, data analytics. Those all underpin this business beyond the actual wagering and the casinos.”

Josh Walker, president and co-founder of the Sports Innovation Lab, said that companies offering online sports betting would need to make sure that transactions are reliable and secure, therefore an alliance between betting and streaming video could be expected. “Everybody that understands how to protect transactions and do so in real time in conjunction with real-time media, that’s the strength of our local economy, its security, its payments, its financial services,” Walker said.

“A lot of the focus is on central operators, like DraftKings or casinos, but the industry around sports betting is far more varied. It’s not just the operators but the technology beyond that,” said James Chisholm, director of public affairs for DraftKings. “There’s no reason Massachusetts shouldn’t be the country’s sports tech hub.”