Keller @ Large: Sports betting not a big deal for revenue in Massachusetts
BOSTON - Yippee, gamblers! Another way to lose your money is coming soon to an iPhone near you!
With the passage of a sports betting bill, Massachusetts joins four other New England states and 30 states overall in the rush to grab more of your dough unleashed by a 2018 Supreme Court ruling. With an emergency preamble attached and Gov. Baker's signature a sure thing, you could be squandering your dollars by the start of the pro football season next month.
Just like the Patriots-Falcons Super Bowl, it looked bleak for sports betting until it didn't. Senate conferees gave ground on a key sticking point between the two branches, allowing wagering on Massachusetts college teams. You won't be able to bet on them during the regular season, but if BC, UMass, Harvard or any of the others make a postseason tournament, then you can.
In other words, a prohibition aimed at precluding pressure on college athletes will be lifted just in time for the most pressure-packed games of the year with the heaviest betting action.
The Senate also caved on the state's cut of the action, settling on a 20% top tax rate, well below their original position (and that of many other states, including New Jersey, the original sports betting entrant). The projected take for the treasury being tossed around on Beacon Hill - about $30 million a year.
Context: the state budget is $52 billion. So if all goes well, sports betting will yield a bit more than half of one percent of that.
That's short of the estimated two percent of gamblers here classified as addicted to it. But don't worry too much - the House did yield on a "protection" demanded by the Senate, a ban on the use of credit cards to bet. A similar ban imposed by federal law on cannabis sales has surely put a damper on that revenue flow, holding it around $3 billion. (Note: this is sarcasm.)
But let's not be harsh on our lawmakers. Gambling is a reality everywhere. And libertarianism when it comes to what adults choose to do with their disposable income is widespread. The people of Massachusetts have been making it clear for decades of record-setting lottery and Keno spending that they like to gamble. The same arguments that finally broke Beacon Hill's resistance to casinos over a decade - why let the money go elsewhere, and nobody likes the nanny state - prevailed here, and the world won't end because of it.
Still, the bill is chock full of security provisions, penalties for abuse, and measures to curb the impact on the young and irresponsible. That tells you that the sports betting fountain that local couch potatoes will soon be able to drink freely from isn't exactly flowing with pure mountain water.
As they say in the bingo halls before every spin of the cage - good luck everyone!