User:Jsmith34355432523/sandbox

 Sports Betting 

Sports Betting is the activity of wagering money on a certain outcome of a "sports" game. This can range from betting on a team winning to a certain player scoring a specific amount of points. The payout depends on how likely the outcome is to happen. This activity had been banned until 2018 due to a federal legislation known as the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992. The Supreme Court had agreed with the Professional league which "held firm that gambling was bad for their games, building their arguments around integrity". This ruling came from events such as the Black Sox scandal in which several players from the professional baseball team, "Chicago White Sox", were accused of intentionally throwing the game for monetary gain through a third-party betting against them. This scandal had a great impact on the integrity of the game and led to the creation of the "Commissioner of Baseball". Of course, the federal ruling affected Massachusetts alongside the rest of the United States.

However, this was then overturned in 2018 due to the fact that the Supreme Court agreed with "New Jersey’s argument that PASPA violated the anti-commandeering principle". This opened the door for many states to begin talks about Sports Betting. Hotel casinos such as Encore and MGM were ready to implement this newly-legal service as it would align with their existing business model. And so, Charlie Baker signed new legislations regarding Sports Betting in Massachusetts. After back and forth talks, the Sports Betting Conference Committee reached a decision to legalize most aspects of sports betting such as betting on Professional and Collegiate-level teams. The bill also included a tax for any form of bets (twenty percent online and fifteen percent in person).

While the bill has come into effect, companies still need to register to become a venue for sports betting by applying for a license. As of January 31st, only certain casinos are allowed to offer sports betting, while there are no legal websites that offer it. The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is currently in the process of delivering more licenses. As stated by the MGC, "Applications for Category 2 licenses will be accepted on a rolling basis. A non-refundable application fee of $200,000 must accompany any application". Thus, there are plans for the launch of sports betting online services for Massachusetts by a variety of companies later this year. For example, Fan Duel, a company originally based in New York is currently in the process of receiving their license to operate in Massachusetts. It appears that most online licenses will go live around March.