The Massachusetts Gaming Commission Monday handed down its biggest fine since sports betting went live in the state last Jan. 31, penalizing Encore Boston Harbor to the tune of $40,000 for allowing in-person wagering on two events that involved Massachusetts college basketball teams. Betting on local sports teams, unless they are in a qualified tournament, is illegal in the state.
All three brick-and-mortar sportsbooks in Massachusetts violated the no-betting-on-local-colleges regulation within days of launch, and all three pointed to human error for allowing the illicit wagers. The MGC in July issued fines totaling $50,000 to three retail sportsbooks.
Encore Boston Harbor had a second set of violations on Feb. 12 and 19, 2023, during which it allowed betting on two Boston College women’s basketball games. Encore’s senior vice president and general counsel, Jacqui Krum, reported the violations to the commission two days after the second violation, and an adjudicatory hearing was held April 14, 2023.
At that time, Encore executives explained that BC women’s basketball was listed by two different names by its technology provider, GAN, and that one of the names was not on GAN’s prohibited markets list. Krum added that the company had implemented a monitoring system to review available betting markets twice daily.