State of Massachusetts
Part of United States
Massachusetts licenses sports betting in three categories, and the category determines the tax. Categories 1 and 2 are the land-based casino and slots licensees, taxed at 15% of gross sports wagering revenue. Category 3 is online, taxed at 20%. Retail betting launched in January 2023 and online followed on 10 March that year. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is a dedicated regulator rather than a lottery agency, and has been more visibly interventionist than most American state regulators on advertising and operator conduct, holding public adjudicatory hearings and pressing operators on marketing practices that other states have left to industry codes. For operators, that makes Massachusetts a compliance-heavy market relative to its size. Online casino is not authorised, and the distinction matters because a state licensing sports betting is often wrongly assumed to permit online casino as well. House Bill 4431 would have authorised and regulated it, and was sent to study by a legislative committee, which in practice defers the question to the 2027 session.
House Bill 4431 (iGaming authorisation)
The iGaming bill returning in 2027 is the thing to diary. Massachusetts is among the larger states without online casino, so its decision carries beyond its own borders.
Catherine Hanaway says sports contracts "fit four square the definition of gambling in Missouri", that they siphon money from sportsbooks that pay the state's tax, and that what she wants is an agreement putting the exchanges under Missouri gaming law and taxing them. If there is no agreement she will sue; she expects them to sue her first.
The 9 September order from the Department of Consumer Protection told Underdog to stop advertising and offering sports event contracts and to let residents withdraw. Underdog's answer, filed in federal court on Tuesday, is the same one it gave Ohio, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New Mexico and Washington: the CFTC has "exclusive jurisdiction" over a designated contract market, so the state's action is "meritless".
The Ohio Casino Control Commission's June resignation letter surfaced at a Massachusetts Gaming Commission meeting last week, where commissioners decided to stay "for now". The national problem-gambling body says taking Kalshi's money is not an endorsement. Three state bodies have decided it is.
The NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and MLS and their players' unions have sent a joint memo to state gaming regulators asking for mandatory lifetime exclusions, a shared list and a single reporting channel. Five states already do something like it. The memo does not reach the bettors on prediction markets.
The company has gone to federal court in Ohio, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New Mexico and Washington, asking each to rule that state gambling law cannot reach a CFTC-regulated contract. It is the first prediction-market operator to sue pre-emptively across a whole group of states rather than wait to be sued.
Told by regulators in Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania that it could not offer both, Underdog has chosen its CFTC-registered event contracts over the draft games that built the company. Drafts close in those states on Wednesday evening, after the NFL season kicks off.
The City of Springfield has taken MGM Resorts to Hampden Superior Court over alleged breaches of the 2013 host community agreement, from employment levels to a downtown building left behind scaffolding for seven years. MGM calls the suit frivolous and says the real story is a proposed sale to a "well-qualified casino operator" that the mayor's office has stalled since early 2024.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board used its first meeting after the Ninth Circuit ruling to say sports event contracts are sports bets, full stop. Kalshi's co-founder says the company will keep arguing for a single federal regulator, and New Jersey has now asked the Supreme Court to settle it.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission will use its existing exclusion powers to bar bettors found to have harassed or threatened athletes from every licensed sportsbook and casino in the state. Leagues, players' unions, colleges, venues and athletes themselves can report incidents to a new portal, and the commission's enforcement bureau can subpoena operators to identify anonymous accounts.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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