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S.302, An Act addressing economic, health and social harms caused by sports betting
After talking to public health experts, people with lived experience, members of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, and advocates, Senator Keenan filed this bill to address specific issues in the Massachusetts gaming industry, as well as the overall concern with the increase in problem gambling.
What started as a bill to address the ever present and grating sports betting ads, has morphed into a fight with an urgent cause.
There is mounting concern among athletes, fans, and bettors for the integrity of sports, and with each betting scandal, that trust deteriorates more and more. But this is an issue bigger than the impacts of betting on sports themselves; it is an issue of public health at large and the health of bettors.
This page outlines what the Bettor Health Act proposes.
VIP Hosts
Sports book VIP hosts are sales associates assigned to the online betting operator's "VIPs." In other words, these VIP hosts reach out to people betting the most money and ensure they continue to do so. There are many documented accounts of problem gamblers being pursued by VIP hosts or other marketing efforts and enticed to bet while trying to quit or while in recovery.
The Bettor Health Act prohibits employees of sports wagering entities from receiving compensation based on how much these employees entice bettors to gamble. It also limits the incentives that VIP Hosts can give to bettors.
Under existing law, certain individuals are prohibited from placing sports bets, e.g. athletes, referees, coaches, employees of betting platforms, and others. The Bettor Health Act adds agents and promoters to the list of those prohibited from wagering on sporting events.
Limits risky bets and annoying ads
The Bettor Health Act prohibits sports-betting advertisements during televised sporting events. This includes during ad breaks and any in-game promotion. This is to curb the exposure and idealization of gambling that comes with watching nearly any televised sporting event.
Sports betting platforms advertise their products as if betting and winning are easy and with little risk because bettors can use bonus dollars and get bonus bets. The Bettor Health Act deems these types of sports-wagering advertising as deceptive under Massachusetts’ consumer protection laws. This means first time bettor deals, those that sound so good but ultimately lead to losses would no longer allowed, and incentives that require large amounts of money or time spent on the betting apps would be banned.
Another way the Bettor Health Act protects bettors is by banning “in-play” and “proposition bets." As news stories continue to break about how athletes, organized crime figures, and others are manipulating the in-play performances of players, the legitimacy of the games is under attack. More importantly, these bets promote problem gambling.
Taxes paid by operators
The Bettor Health Act recognizes that the sports betting operators who make their profits from vulnerable bettors have a duty to contribute more to resolving the problems their products create. That is why this bill would raise the excise or taxation rate paid by online sports wagering operators from 20% to 51%, aligning Massachusetts with New Hampshire, New York, and Rhode Island.
It also adds to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission research agenda an assessment of links between problem gambling and suicides, and requires sports wagering operators to release anonymized data on sports bettors to experienced nonprofit research entities.
The sports betting business model guarantees wins for its operators by ensuring bettors lose more. The “house always wins.” The Bettor Health Act would put guardrails in place on sports betting, curb the worst practices of the industry, and require those winning amidst all the losing to act more responsibly.
Affordability Checks
Bettors betting more than they can afford is one of the clearest signs gambling addiction. We know addiction ruins the lives of bettors, as well as those of families and friends. Bettors take on incredible debt or may commit crimes to feed their addiction. Affordability checks make sports betting operators responsible to prevent the worst cases.
The Bettor Health Act would require sports books to conduct affordability checks for people betting more than $1,000 a day or $10,000 a month, focusing on those at risk of losing the most, not necessarily hobby bettors.
To address the public health harms caused by sports betting, the Bettor Health Act also doubles the amount that each sports wagering operator must contribute annually to the Public Health Trust Fund.
