UPDATE: MGM Springfield, BetMGM Granted Massachusetts Sports Betting Licenses

• The Massachusetts Gaming Commission granted MGM Springfield a Category 1 retail sports betting license
• Later in the evening, the Gaming Commission granted BetMGM a tethered Category 3 online sports betting license
• Several more license hearings scheduled for tomorrow

UPDATE: After more than a 10-hour day, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission unanimously voted to grant BetMGM a tethered Category 3 online sports betting license.

The online operator is partnered with MGM Springfield and will operate its retail and online sports betting services.

As part of the approval, BetMGM will have to provide the MGC with a vendor diversity list and must continually provide updates on two ongoing confidential investigations.

Long Massachusetts Sports Betting Day

Despite questions about its relationship with BetMGM, MGM Springfield became just the second casino in the state to receive a Massachusetts sports betting license this afternoon.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) unanimously approved MGM Springfield’s Category 1 retail sports betting license application today after nearly four hours of discussion. The commissioners resumed the hearing after deferring its vote on the casino’s application on Dec. 7.

“Congratulations to MGM Springfield. Thank you for your application, your interest, and your responsiveness today and on Dec. 7,” Massachusetts Gaming Commissioner Chair Cathy Judd-Stein said.

The gaming commission has currently approved two Category 1 retail sports betting licenses and just one tethered Category 3 online sports betting license as it continues its hearings.

MGM Springfield Retail Sports Betting Approved

BetMGM Massachusetts will operate the casino’s retail sportsbook. Retail sports betting is still expected to launch in Massachusetts in late January, early February, prior to the Super Bowl.

Despite the unanimous vote, questions were again raised by commissioners on BetMGM’s relationship with MGM Springfield in its license application.

Commissioner Nakisha Skinner shared doubts that she could vote on the retail application without first hearing BetMGM’s application for a tethered Category 3 online sports betting license. Both are too intertwined, she said, to properly take a vote on one and not the other.

This sentiment seemed to be the theme of the hearing, as the commissioners struggled on the question of how BetMGM should be viewed in the casino’s retail license application.

Both Loretta Lillios, Director, Investigations and Enforcement Bureau of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, and MGC General Counsel Todd Grossman said during the hearing that BetMGM should be viewed as a vendor for MGM Springfield in its retail license application, but commissioners still struggled with that distinction.

Lillios at one point even said her department viewed BetMGM as a vendor and had uncovered no information to show they’re not suitable as one.

Womble Bond Dickinson Attorney Jed Nosal, who has provided counsel to MGM Springfield during the hearings, said the casino has gone above and beyond of what was required in the application and “has satisfied every requirement for a license.”

“Coming back to the fact that MGM Springfield and its qualifiers are currently suitable under Chapter 23K, and are under heightened reporting requirements, well beyond what this application is required to provide regarding its history of compliance…there is substantial evidence that we have maintained by clear and convincing evidence the suitability of the company,” Nosal said.

BetMGM Online Hearing Started

Immediately after approved the retail application this afternoon, the Gaming Commissioners took up discussion on the casino’s online sports betting partner, BetMGM. If approved for a tethered Category 3 online sports betting license, BetMGM will run MGM Springfield’s online sports betting program.

It’s unknown if the commissioners will be able to conclude the hearing with a vote today.

Online sports betting is still scheduled to launch in the Commonwealth in early March.