Massachusetts Sports Betting Legislation Affected by Coronavirus Concerns

By Jerry Smith Staff Writer Updated: 05/03/2020

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A push for sports betting legislation in the state of Massachusetts is experiencing delays and challenges. The new bill was advanced by the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies on March 12th. This came just one day after the NBA season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The vice chair of the committee, Senator Brendan Crighton, said in a recent interview that he had expected sports betting to pass this year at the point when the bill went through committee. However, he said that he now feels that this is very unlikely.

This is due to the ongoing global crisis with coronavirus and the time and resources that have to be dedicated to dealing with this. In his interview, Crighton said that everything was up in the air as a result of the pandemic.

He added that the situation would have been completely different just a month earlier. However, with the growing death toll and soaring infections rates from COVID-19, attention was being diverted from other matters.

Debate on Sports Betting Bill Likely to Suffer Significant Delay

With Bill H.4559 referred by the committee to the House Ways and Means Committee, an informational campaign would normally take place. This campaign would be aimed at educating lawmakers about the bill.

However, Crighton went on to say that all focus and resources were now being directed toward dealing with the coronavirus outbreak. The senator said:

All of our focuses are elsewhere right now, so it is going to be hard to bring enough attention to sports betting to get immediate action. I’m trying to stay optimistic while focusing on the urgent matters at hand right now.

He then said that any debate on a sports betting bill by the Massachusetts Legislature would experience lengthy delays. He added that it was unlikely that it would take place this year.

Legislative Session Could Be Extended

According to Crighton, the state may well extend the legislative session beyond the end of July in order to deal with issues that have been delayed due to coronavirus matters. However, he said that he was unsure whether sports betting would be included.

This would depend on whether it is deemed urgent enough to be addressed during any extension. According to Crighton, it is more likely to be postponed until next year, although he admitted this was just speculation. He said that with increased time in session, there was a chance it may be addressed this year, but it was too soon to tell.

Generating Revenue in Light of Casino Closures

Officials believe there is one thing that may increase the chances of sports betting being addressed in an extended session. This is the ability to generate revenue in light of casinos being ordered to close in order to ensure social distancing. Casinos were forced to close in mid-March on the orders of Gov. Charlie Baker.

Crighton said that during these unprecedented times, it was difficult to determine what might take place. However, he said that regulating sports betting could help a number of industries to recover with greater ease.