Massachusetts’ three sportsbooks allowed illegal bets to be placed on college sports

That’s an infraction of the state’s sports wagering law, which forbids bets on Massachusetts schools unless that team is participating in a tournament with at least three other colleges or universities.
MGM Springfield, Encore Boston Harbor, and Plainridge Park Casino each self-reported instances in which their sportsbooks allowed bets to be placed on games featuring one of the 125-plus Massachusetts post-secondary institutions.
If the first days of sports wagering in Massachusetts counted as a pop quiz when it came to banning bets on Massachusetts colleges, all three casinos failed.
At a Mass. Gaming Commission hearing this week, officials attributed human error by outside vendors to the violations at Encore Boston Harbor and Plainridge Park Casino.
Advertisement
Commissioners will hold adjudicatory hearings to determine what, if any, penalties will be imposed on the casinos. A similar process expected after details on MGM Springfield’s infractions emerge in the coming days.
Retail sports betting kicked off in the state on Jan. 31. Mobile betting is slated to begin March 10.
At Plainridge Park Casino, an employee at their sports betting platform provider Kambi mistakenly labeled Merrimack College as a Florida school when it posted a Feb. 2 men’s basketball matchup against Long Island University. The wrong designation allowed the game to evade computerized compliance filters, and it was listed for seven hours. The casino took in 33 bets worth $6,848 and awarded $4,270 in winnings before a teller noticed that Merrimack College is actually based in Massachusetts.
To avoid future infractions, Plainridge instituted a daily check of Kambi’s college offerings that require a manager to sign off on before being posted. The teller who noticed the error was rewarded.
“Due to a data input error by one of our vendors, we notified and self-reported a violation to the MGC,” said North Grounsell, general manager of Plainridge Park Casino in an email. “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. At Plainridge Park, we foster an environment that allows employees to report issues if they arise and applaud our team members that contributed to self reporting this violation.”
Advertisement
During the five hours the Feb. 2 Boston College-Notre Dame women’s basketball game was available at Encore Boston Harbor, a single moneyline bet was placed as part of a five-team parlay before the C portion of the bet was nullified prior to tip–off.
MGC commissioners were told the Eagles’ game was mistakenly omitted from a prohibited wagers list.
Encore Boston Harbor’s sports book operator, WynnBet, notified the MGC it will now conduct audits twice a day, morning and evening, to confirm no Massachusetts school regular-season games are listed. WynnBet will take responsibility for signing off on all collegiate offerings.
“We will continue to cooperate with the Gaming Commission’s investigation,” said an Encore Boston Harbor spokesperson in an email. “In the interim, we have implemented additional measures to ensure compliance.”
MGC investigators are still looking into MGM Springfield, where the sportsbook took bets on the Feb. 3 and 4 Harvard men’s basketball games against Yale and Brown.
The MGC hopes to hold adjudicatory meetings, which could result in fines, before the end of February or early March.
Michael Silverman can be reached at michael.silverman@globe.com.