3 Boston Casino Sportsbooks Fined $50,000 for Non-Compliance

• The Massachusetts Gaming Commission issued three casino sportsbooks fined totaling $50,000 for non-compliance.
• Each casino sportsbook offered at least one unauthorized college basketball game in February.
• MGM Springfield and Plainridge Park Casino were fined $20,000, while Encore Boston Harbor received a $10,000 fine.

BOSTON – The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) officially issued fines to three Massachusetts casino sportsbooks for non-compliance issues from February. Tuesday’s fines were issued because each sportsbook accepted unauthorized college basketball events.

Retail sportsbook launched legal Massachusetts sports betting on January 31, with most of the non-compliance issues occurring shortly after launch.

According to Massachusetts General Law Chapter 23N Section 3 and the Massachusetts Sports Wagering Catalog, Massachusetts sportsbooks are prohibited from offering NCAA basketball odds for in-state collegiate teams that aren’t involved in a collegiate tournament.

Since all three casino sportsbooks’ non-compliance issues occurred outside of the annual March Madness tournament, they offered unauthorized events and were fined accordingly.

MGM Springfield Sportsbook received a $20,000 fine for offering betting for two Harvard men’s basketball games. The sportsbook offered legal sports betting for Harvard’s game against Yale on February 3 for 21 hours, as well as another 20 hours against Brown the next day.

Sports betting was allowed on the unauthorized events because BetMGM had incorrectly located Harvard as being in Connecticut.

MGM self-reported the non-compliance and ensured similar non-compliance events will happen in the future. A daily audit of offerings is now sent and reviewed by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission before the sportsbook opens.

At Encore Boston Harbor, WynnBET conducts twice daily audits to ensure Massachusetts collegiate sports teams won’t be available for betting after their non-compliance incident on February 2.

Encore Boston Harbor

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission issued Encore Boston Harbor a $10,000 fine for offering betting on an unauthorized women’s basketball game between Boston College vs Notre Dame. Wagering was allowed on the game because of a naming error in the system that made Boston College appear eligible for wagering.

One of the sportsbook employees noticed and Encore Boston Harbor self-reported the non-compliance before the game begun. Only one moneyline bet was made on the game that was available for five hours before taken down.

Plainridge Park Casino

Plainridge Park Casino accepted 33 wagers across 27 tickets on a Merrimack College Vs Long Island men’s basketball game. The event was available for wagering because backend entry data listed Merrimack College as a Florida school.

The MGC issued Plainridge Park Casino a $20,000 fine for offering an unauthorized event. All three non-compliance issues seemed to be genuine mistakes within the first week of brick and mortar sportsbooks in Massachusetts.

No suspicious betting activity was detected with either Massachusetts casino sportsbook.

News tags: Encore Boston Harbor | Massachusetts | Massachusetts Gaming Commission | MGM Springfield | Plainridge Park Casino