Digital Wager Wire highlights the most important events impacting the domestic and international sports betting and gaming industry each week throughout the year.
Is iGaming Coming to the Bay State?
Representative Daniel Cahill introduced HD 4084, an online casino bill, while his colleague in the upper chamber, Senator Paul Feeney, announced his iGaming bill, SD 2240, earlier last week. Massachusetts is just the latest state to consider iGaming legislation, but getting it across the finish line is another matter entirely.
Only seven states offer online casino gambling, including New Jersey, Delaware, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Although iGaming revenues tower above mobile sports betting profits, state legislators have been reluctant to embrace it as land-based casino operators are fearful it will cannibalize their business. At the same time, unions whose members work in the gaming industry share those same concerns, as online casino gambling could decrease foot traffic at brick-and-mortar casinos, which could lead to job losses.
Moreover, anti-gambling forces cite the addictive nature of allowing citizens 24-hour access to portable casinos that can be accessed on a mobile device or PC.
These are the primary stumbling blocks that preclude legislators from supporting iGaming proposals, but as budget deficits balloon and lawmakers seek alternative sources of revenue, online casino gambling has become a hot topic in legislatures around the nation, including Massachusetts.
A maximum of 10 iGaming platforms will be allowed under the proposed legislation, with the state’s three commercial casinos, Encore Boston Harbor, MGM Springfield, and Plainridge Park Casino, permitted access to two skins while four would be allowed to be untethered to any of the casinos. iGaming platform providers would be required to pay an initial $5 million licensing fee for the first five years, and revenues would be taxed at 20%, the same rate as mobile sportsbooks in the Bay State.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) would regulate the iGaming industry and would be allowed to enter an “internet gaming reciprocal agreement” such as the Multi-State Internet Gaming Association, a shared player pool consisting of five states including Nevada, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, and West Virginia, with Pennsylvania expected to join the association as well.
Ohio Governor Threatens to Double Sports Betting Tax
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine is going back to the well that saw him raise the tax on sportsbook revenues from 10% to 20% within the first two months of sports betting being launched in January 2023. But this time around, Governor DeWine has written in his budget proposal an increase from 20% to 40%, with much of the proceeds earmarked for a new domed stadium for the Cleveland Browns.
“Look, Ohio citizens are giving every single day millions of dollars to sports gaming companies. It’s time for us to raise the tax on them so that we can do things to help Ohioans,” DeWine said. “These are the companies that are taking all of this money outside, draining it outside of the state of Ohio on gaming. They ought to pay their fair share, and this would make them pay their fair share.”
As for the money going towards financing as much as 40% of a new NFL stadium, DeWine cited decades of government support for Ohio’s professional sports franchises.
“It’s not a question of whether we are going to help professional sports. We’ve done that for 50-60 years. The question is, who is going to pay for it?” DeWine told reporters in Cleveland on Thursday. “The state was involved a few years ago for the tune of about $30 million for the Guardians. We have a lot of great sports in the state of Ohio, professional sports, and we have minor league sports too, and they’re always looking for help in regards to that,” added DeWine.
Should DeWine get his way, conservative estimates project an additional $288 million from the increase over the next two years.
