Hours before the Massachusetts Gaming Commission convened Friday for a meeting to discuss amended sports betting regulations, MGC Chair Cathy Judd-Stein listened to a local Boston news segment on a burgeoning young gymnast.
The segment focused on how the gymnast is using social media to promote her brand, information that Judd-Stein made use of for the commission’s discussion relating to sports betting endorsements by young athletes. The MGC met Friday prepared to discuss a proposed regulation that would have prohibited professional athletes under the age of 21 from doing commercial endorsements for sportsbooks. At the meeting, the commissioners amended language in order to create a carve-out allowing endorsements by certain pro athletes.
Under the new language, adopted after lively debate, professional athletes between the ages of 18 and 20 will be exempt from the restriction. Commissioners Nakisha Skinner and Eileen O’Brien had expressed concern with the possibility of an athlete under 18 endorsing a sportsbook on a commercial appearing within Massachusetts. Another commissioner, Jordan Maynard, noted Lebron James’ massive branding power when he entered the NBA in 2003 as a teenager. In the end, the five commissioners struck a compromise by unanimously approving the carve-out for 18-to-20-year-olds.
The MGC could opt to take up the issue again after a meeting planned Monday with a group dubbed The Players' Association, featuring representatives from the NFLPA, NBAPA, MLBPA, NHLPA, and MLSPA. The commission would like to receive feedback from the players unions before the regulation is filed with the Massachusetts Secretary of State next week.