Massachusetts regulators said Tuesday morning they “won’t stand in the way” of a Nov. 14 launch of PENN Entertainment’s rebranded ESPN BET sports betting platform, but they will require PENN to provide additional information next month.
During a heated two-hour meeting dedicated exclusively to ESPN BET, PENN Chief Strategy Officer Chris Rogers repeatedly objected that his company was being questioned about issues that other operators had not been asked about. But Massachusetts Gaming Commission members said they have major concerns about crossover between ESPN and ESPN BET and insisted that they had, in fact, put conditions on other operators during the licensing process.
“I feel like I am having amnesia,” Commissioner Jordan Maynard said. “We went through this” in operator licensing.
At that time, the MGC required Massachusetts operators to agree not to partner with colleges and universities and not to advertise anywhere where the majority of the audience would be 21 or younger, among other provisions.