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Massachusetts Requests Data From Sports Betting Operators on Player Limitations

Robert Linnehan

By Robert Linnehan in Sports Betting News

Published:


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  • The Massachusetts Gaming Commission may request more data from licensed sports betting operators regarding player limitation
  • The commission wants to know how many players are limited, if they’re limited after winning, or losing?
  • After evaluating the provided data, the commission may recommend new regulations for the practice

Massachusetts regulators wants answers from the commonwealth’s licensed sports betting operators as to how they limit players, how many of their players are limited, and if winning/losing rates have anything to do with how patrons are limited.

The Massachusetts Sports Wagering, Legal, and Communications Divisions received approval from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission to circulate a data request to the state’s seven licensed sports betting operators to determine exactly how many of their sports betting customers are limited on on their platforms.

The data will potentially lead to new regulations regarding Massachusetts player limitations in the future.

MGC Wants Answers on Sports Betting Limitations

The data request’s being sent to  sports wagering operators will seek answers as to how many patrons are currently being limited in the commonwealth. The request will ask for specific player data to determine the percentage of players being limited, how many players are being limited that exhibit winning behavior, and how many players are being treated at VIPs and exhibit losing behavior.

After analyzing the data, the division will identify problem areas and remedies the MGC may take moving forward. These could result in new regulations designed to address the issue of limiting patrons, such as requiring that operators notify patrons when and how they’ve been limited on their platforms, implementing reporting requirements to the MGC regarding patron limitations, and requiring that operators established clearly defined protocols used to limit patrons.

“A review and analysis of the data will presumably show us the volume of patrons being limited and whether, and to what extent, a correlation exists between one, a patron whose limits have been decreased due and who exhibits winning behavior, and two, a patron whose limits have been increased and exhibits losing behavior,” Carrie Torrisi, Sports Wagering Division Chief, told the MGC.

The MGC unanimously agreed to the plan. The data requests will be sent to operators in the next several weeks.

Roundtables Fueled Plans

Today’s course of action stemmed from two roundtables the MGC hosted with sports betting customers, industry experts, responsible gaming advocates, and sports betting operator representatives in the commonwealth.

Originally, the MGC only planned to host one roundtable on the subject in May. However, all of the sports betting operators (excluding Bally Bet) no-showed the first meeting, which necessitated the second meeting held in September.

Over the course of the three-hour roundtable in September, operators stressed that limiting users is more about curtailing a very small percentage of customers from taking advantage of the sportsbooks while being able to safely offer a high number of markets to its more casual bettors.

Faced with claims that operators limit users based sorely on how much they win, sports betting operator representatives said the decisions are more nuanced. Responsible gaming factors, certain patterns of behavior, capitalizing on sportsbook errors, and other signs of trying to gain an advantage over the sportsbooks factored into decisions to limit patrons, most sportsbook representatives noted.

Most also claimed that a very small percentage of customers receive limitations. Alex Smith, senior vice president for regulatory compliance for Fanatics Betting and Gaming, said more than 90% of winning customers on the platform have not been limited in any way.

Among the users who have been limited, Smith said more than half were “net losing” at the time.

“The notion that if you win you’ll be banned is not statistically correct,” he said.

Despite the claims, the sportsbooks presented no official data to back this up. The MGC’s data requests will likely shine a light on just how many patrons are being limited and the factors that have gone into the decisions to do so.

Robert Linnehan
Robert Linnehan

Regulatory Writer and Editor

Rob covers all regulatory developments in online gambling. He specializes in US sports betting news along with casino regulation news as one of the most trusted sources in the country.

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