One hates to spoil a multimillionaire’s holiday surprise, but we already know what the local sports betting industry is getting for Christmas – another year of lighter-than-ashes fines for violations of Massachusetts law.
Their latest gift was opened early, at the Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s (MGC) Dec. 4 meeting. Three-time offender Fanatics was on the carpet for violating the ban on taking bets on non-tournament Massachusetts college sports.
Given the ever-growing litany of horror stories surrounding threats against athletes and the corruption of some at the pro and college level, you would think this sort of thing would alarm the commissioners. But the only objection to the token $20,000 fine came from Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s MGC appointee, Eileen O’Brien, who noted the penalty is “not much of a deterrent…. I’m a little disappointed, quite frankly, with the fine, I think it should be more severe…. Three times in a couple of years with a smack on the wrist – I just think there needs to be more done to make sure this doesn’t continue.”
That was too harsh for MGC Chairman Jordan Maynard. “Compared to other jurisdictions, our $20,000 and $30,000 and $40,000 fines are much higher,” he said. Noted O’Brien: “Compared to the revenue they make, no, I’m not so sure that that’s the relevant metric for deterrence.”
But these joke penalties are standard operating procedure for the MGC since sports betting began here in 2023. That year, the commission docked the state’s three casinos $50,000 for accepting illegal bets. In 2024, the total was $177,500 in fines on the Encore and MGM casinos plus several of the online sports books, including two on Fanatics.
After all, we don’t want to kill the (not so) golden goose here, right? The state has pocketed over $339 million from sports betting. That’s a puny percent of the total handle and state budget. But who’s counting?
And Maynard’s spin about how tough we are doesn’t pass the laugh test. In the state of New York they hit two online sports books with a total of $258,500 in fines back in 2023; there hasn’t been a violation adjudicated since. In Ohio there have been two fines assessed this year: $450,000 on Bally’s and $100,000 on Fanatics for failing to comply with state laws.
“The MGC is not worried about the integrity of the games,” says Boston College Professor Richard McGowan, an internationally recognized expert on the gambling industry. “They just want the money.”
That doesn’t bode well for the state’s ability to impede the mushrooming threat sports betting poses to the integrity of sports and the mental and financial health of sports betting patrons. An academic study earlier this year found 22% of Americans – and nearly half of men age 18 to 49 – have at least one online sportsbook account. More than half have chased losses with more betting, and 20% have lost enough to cause financial problems.
Meanwhile, the MGC encourages the industry’s worst instincts by making it clear the rules are essentially advisory, when the cost of breaking them is a rounding error. Says McGowan: “It’s the liberty of these firms versus the common good, and it looks like the common good has been shot out the window.”
Merry Christmas!