Casinos violate Mass. college sports gambling regulations

Sports Casinos violate Mass. college sports gambling regulations Plainridge Park Casino and Encore Boston Harbor are on the hot seat for breaking the Commonwealth’s rules on in-state college sports betting. Patrons place sports bets at Encore Boston Harbor casino Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2023, in Everett. AP Photo/Steven Senne
Following a review from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, two casinos have been found in violation of the Commonwealth’s recently-implemented gambling catalog for accepting illegally placed bets.
Of the three casinos that Massachusetts permitted to accept wagers, two-Plainridge Park Casino and Encore Boston Harbor — encroached on the Commonwealth’s ban on in-state college sports betting.
Plainridge Park Casino accepted bets on Merrimack College men’s basketball games for about seven hours, and Encore Boston Harbor allowed wagers for five hours on Boston College women’s basketball games, investigators said.
Since the implementation of in-person sports betting Jan. 31, both schools each played two games. BC fell 72-59 in a home loss on Feb. 2 against Notre Dame and 79-72 in a road game against Syracuse on Feb. 5. Merrimack won 76-59 at home against Long Island University Feb. 2, and 70-66 in a home game versus Saint Francis University. It remains unclear which events were bet on and the amount wagered.
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Both casinos self-reported the violations.
“Due to a data input error by one of our vendors, we notified and self-reported a violation to the MGC. We regret that this mistake happened, take full responsibility, and have added several remedial steps to our compliance process to help prevent this from happening again,” Plainridge Park General Manager North Grounsell said.
“The resort self-reported the error to the Gaming Commission, and has instituted additional measures to ensure compliance moving forward,” said a spokesperson for Encore Boston Harbor.
According to reports from the State House News Service, the gaming commission said an “in-depth discussion” is planned for Tuesday between the commission, the Investigations and Enforcement Bureau, and legal staff to determine what actions should be taken toward the casinos.
Lawmakers legalized sports betting last August, approving a catalog that includes dozens of sports. However, the catalog excluded in-state collegiate events. The only exception to this rule is when a college plays in a tournament with at least four other schools.
Prior to the casinos’ violation, the commission had planned to launch mobile betting operations at 10 a.m. on Friday, March 10 — days before the start of the NCAA’s “March Madness” tournament.
For now, a March 10 launch is “dependent on the quality of the internal control submissions” from operators and issue-responsiveness from casino vendor Gaming Laboratories International, said Karen Wells, the commission’s executive director.