Sports betting supporters make final push for legalization bill in Massachusetts before legislative session ends



As lawmakers solicited ideas to accelerate the state’s economic recovery, a Boston Red Sox attorney made a push to get a sports betting legalization bill passed before the end of the legislative session this month.

As lawmakers solicited ideas to accelerate the state’s economic recovery, a Boston Red Sox attorney made a push to get a sports betting legalization bill passed before the end of the legislative session this month.

David Friedman, senior vice president of legal and government affairs for the Red Sox, told lawmakers during a meeting of the Resilience and Recovery Special Committee that legalizing sports betting would provide at least a modest amount of relief to pro sports teams, casino operators and other companies hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Four months into this pandemic, mobile sports betting takes on a new urgency for the leagues and teams. As I said, our revenues have fallen off a cliff, and so the direct financial impact of revenues for sports betting for teams may be relatively modest — we’re not going to be running sportsbooks ourselves — but today every single dollar of advertising and sponsorship revenue is extremely important to us,” Friedman said.

The special committee, led by House Majority Leader Ronald Mariano, heard testimony on how to expand existing job programs, new partnerships and policies that could stimulate the economy. Friedman said legalizing sports betting was a lower-risk proposal to add to an economic development bill.

“We believe that mobile sports betting is low-hanging fruit,” he said.

Mariano also heard testimony from Jay Ash, former secretary of the Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development who is now president and CEO of Massachusetts Competitive Partnership. Jennifer James, undersecretary for Workforce Development at the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development, also spoke.

Friedman delivered testimony as part of a larger coalition of bookmakers, pro sports teams and MGM Resorts, a casino operator — companies that have often butt heads on privacy, data who reaps the monetary benefits of sports betting. The coalition includes the Red Sox, the MLB the Boston Celtics, the NBA, the PGA Tour, Boston-based DraftKings, FanDuel and MGM Springfield.

MGM, which reopened earlier this month, could use sports betting to bring customers back to the Springfield casino as the economy recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, Friedman said.

The Red Sox, which begins its season Friday night, stands to lose millions in unsold tickets.

The Joint committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies released a bill in March that would allow adults age 21 or older to place bets at the state’s casinos, slot parlors or live horse tracks. The bill also allows sports betting on a limited number of web or mobile apps for players who are in the state. The industry would be overseen by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.

The bill was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee, but it’s unclear whether legislators will approve it before the end of session July 31. Lawmakers face a jam-packed end of the legislative session with major bills on police reform, transportation and other priorities that remain unresolved.

Sportsbooks tend to generate small profit margins, but Friedman said companies are relying on every dollar from advertising and sponsorship revenue in the wake of the pandemic.

If the sports betting bill passed, Friedman said operators could be running by the end of the season at the earliest and definitely by Opening Day 2021.

“I do fear that COVID-19 is still going to cause major business challenges for all of us next year as well,” he said.


This article is a reprint from MassLive.com. To view the original story and comment, click here


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