Panel to study online gaming and DFS created in Massachusetts

09/15/16

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) voted unanimously to create a panel named the Massachusetts Online Gaming Study Commission to study online gaming and daily fantasy sports.

US.- After the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) voted unanimously (four to nil) to create a panel to study online gaming and daily fantasy sports, the Massachusetts Online Gaming Study Commission was created. The special panel will be headed by the chairs of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, Sen. Eileen Donoghue and Rep. Joseph Wagner.

The other members of the committee include MGC chair Steve Crosby, an appointee from Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey with fantasy sports consumer protection experience, an appointee from Governor Charlie Baker with fantasy sports industry experience, and appointees by the state’s legislative leadership: Senate President Stan Rosenberg, Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, House Speaker Robert DeLeo and House Minority Leader Brad Jones. The Massachusetts Online Gaming Study Commission is expected to deliver a final report by July 31st, 2017, about most forms of online gambling and daily fantasy sports.

“Hopefully, this will be an opportunity for us to continue…the initiative that we’ve made about trying to come up with some omnibus legislation that will give the Legislature and then probably the Gaming Commission the tools to regulate all of online gaming,” commented Crosby regarding the study.

The omnibus approach to which Crosby refers is the creation of legislation that would legalise and regulate virtually all forms of online gambling at once, including poker, daily fantasy sports, casino gaming, and lottery.