Everything you need to know about Massachusetts' new sports betting law

After several years of uncertainty, sports gambling is a sure bet in Massachusetts.

Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill to legalize sports betting this past summer, officially joining a wave of states that moved to allow wagering on everything from the Super Bowl to college athletics after the Supreme Court struck down a federal ban in 2018.

According to the American Gaming Association, the new law made Massachusetts the 36th state in the U.S. to legalize sports betting.

Now, with the first bets set to be placed this winter, here's a look at what's allowed, where you can wager and how the new law differs from sports betting schemes in neighboring states:

You'll have to be 21 years or older to bet on sports in Massachusetts, just like gambling at one of the state's casinos. That's in line with Connecticut, but it's a bit stricter than New Hampshire and Rhode Island, which allow those as young as 18 to bet on sports.

Most professional and collegiate sports are fair game. That includes everything from the Super Bowl and the NBA to European beach soccer and the baseball-like Finnish sport of pesäpallo.

So, yeah, there are a lot of options.

However, betting on high school and youth sports remains prohibited.

There is one nuance for college sports: no betting is allowed on in-state college teams, unless they’re playing in a tournament.

For example, all regular season Boston College basketball games are off limits (at least for bettors in Massachusetts). But you can bet on the team if it's playing in March Madness or its conference tournament. You also wouldn't be able to bet on a Massachusetts college football team's postseason bowl game — unless it's in the four-team College Football Playoff (but, we probably don't have to worry about that).

Regulators at the Massachusetts Gaming Commission also recently voted to — at least initially — exclude a few other sports like chess, cornhole, e-sports, jai alai and Olympic sports in which the winner is determined by a judge.

That said, your options aren't solely limited to "sports," per se. Gaming commissioners also decided to allow wagering on special events like the Academy Awards, Emmys and the annual Fourth of July hot dog-eating contest at Coney Island.

You can read more about the complete catalog of approved sports here.

The new law allows the state's existing casinos all to apply for a license to host in-person sports betting. In fact, Everett's Encore Boston Harbor and the MGM in Springfield have already built sports bars in their casinos that are basically sports books-in-waiting. The Plainridge Park Casino intends to set up a sports book, too.

But traveling to a casino will be far from your only option.

The three casinos and up to seven other companies will be able to launch mobile sports betting apps, allowing people in Massachusetts to bet on their phone or laptop.

So far, all three casinos have partnerships with mobile betting apps in the works. Six "untethered" mobile gambling companies, including Boston-based DraftKings or its rival FanDuel, have also gotten the green light. But all tethered and untethered mobile betting platform have to wait a little longer before they launch (more on that in a moment).

The law also says you must physically be in Massachusetts as you place your bet. So, you won't be able to take your phone to, say, Vermont and place bets across state lines. (Exactly how that will be enforced hasn't been outlined yet, but other states with mobile sports betting use geotagging on websites and apps to verify the user's location.)

The law further allows Raynham Park and Suffolk Downs — which have continued to host simulcast betting on dog and horse racing — to eventually open on-site sports books. At some point in the future, there's also the possibility you could place bets at businesses like restaurants and hotels in Massachusetts.

The new law directs the Gaming Commission to conduct a study on the feasibility of allowing retail locations to operate sports betting kiosks and report back to the Legislature with recommendations in the near future.

That depends how you want to bet.

The Gaming Commission decided to pursue a staggered rollout so that at least some people could place bets on this year's Super Bowl. As a result, in-person wagering will kick off at the state's three casinos at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 31.

For mobile sports betting apps, officials are eyeing an early March launch date — just in time for March Madness. But an exact date hasn't yet been set.

Since sports betting was officially legalized in August, the commission has been in a rush to put together the regulatory scheme.

Gaming Commission spokesman Tom Mills told WBUR in an email last summer that the group needs to decide and formalize "over 200 regulations." That includes everything from licensing and technology standards to advertising rules to addiction safeguards. Commissioners also had to hire staff to lead a new sports betting division, draft the regulations, take public input and formally vote on all the rules.

In some states, like Maine and Ohio, the rollout has taken as long as a year or more.

"I want the public to understand, as we as commissioners are starting to understand, that this isn't something that's going to happen overnight," Commissioner Brad Hill said during a meeting last August. "This is going to take a little longer than people probably anticipate, and I'm OK with that because I want to do it right."

Here's another important point: No credit cards.

That means you'll likely need a debit card or bank routing number to set up mobile wagering accounts. The rule is intended to keep problem gamblers from going deep into debt.

“The idea that somebody somewhat impulsively could rack up massive credit card bills from their couch who might have an addiction issue or otherwise have a gambling problem — that’s a big concern," state Sen. Eric Lesser, a co-author of the law, said at a State House News Service forum last year.

Yes. While much of those rules will be determined by the Gaming Commission, there are some basic measures set by the law.

For one, people with gambling problems — or anyone, really — can add their name to a "self-excluded persons" list. The list will be shared with operators, who must ban those listed from placing bets on their properties or online platforms. (The list will otherwise be kept private.)

The commission must also set rules against deceptive or excessive advertising, as well as guidelines for casinos and other operators to promote "responsible gaming." Online and mobile betting platforms will be required to show the phone number and website for the state's problem gaming hotline every time a user opens the app.

You bet. 

But unlike the state's sales tax or marijuana excise tax, consumers won't see it imposed on their wagers or winnings.

Instead, the law calls for taxing the overall monthly revenue that casinos and other companies bring in from sports betting. The rates are a 15% tax on revenue from in-person wagering, a 20% tax on revenue from mobile wagering and a 15% tax on revenue from fantasy sports.

That's actually much less than the tax rates in New Hampshire and Rhode Island, both of which impose a 51% tax on operator revenue. Richard McGowan, a Boston College professor who studies the gambling industry, told WBUR the lower rates in Massachusetts may help the state compete against peers with more established sports betting industries.

"Because they're late coming to the table of sports gambling, maybe they think they're gonna certainly make it more interesting for the operators to come here if it's a lower tax rate," McGowan said.

Lawmakers estimate the taxes will bring in $60 million in state revenue each year in addition to $70 to $80 million from initial licensing fees, which must be renewed every five years.

The law divides the state's wagering tax revenues into several different funds:

Individuals have up until to one year to claim their winnings from a bet on a game or event. After that, operators are required to deposit unclaimed winnings into a fund that pays for the Gaming Commission's work to oversee sports betting.

With reporting by WBUR's Newscast Unit