On the same day that it awarded Fanatics initial approval for a digital sports betting license, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission released its bet menu, discussed stringent guidelines around advertising, announced the hiring of a new director of sports betting, and discussed in detail how promotional play will be handled with regards to taxes.
Fanatics is the last of five operators that have applied for Category 3 tethered mobile licenses to be approved. The approval means that the company, which announced Thursday morning that it would debut its retail operations at Maryland’s FedEx Field later this month, is now at least initially licensed in three states — Maryland, Massachusetts, and Ohio. Fanatics remains mum on when and where its first mobile launch will be, but last week it said that it would be ready to launch on the early March universal date still to be scheduled in Massachusetts.
Commission staff on Thursday reviewed the bet menu that will be available to operators, and it appears to include all of the usual types of wagers, including straight bets, moneyline bets, prop bets, and more. Commissioner Brad Hill seemed surprised at the depth and breadth of the available offerings and suggested that he believed that the menu would be downsized at launch. No other state has limited its bet menu at launch, and it does not appear that the MGC staff has plans to do that.
The state’s law allows for betting on professional and collegiate sports with the exception of local college teams. It does have a twist, though, that will allow consumers to wager on local college teams if they are participants in some major tournaments. The MGC will vote on the bet menu at its Jan. 20 meeting, ahead of the Jan. 31 launch of retail sportsbooks.