Sports betting began this week in Massachusetts with Encore Casino leading the way with its parent, Wynn Resorts the dominant sports betting entity in the nation.
It’s effect on individuals who cannot control themselves and on the Lottery must be watched carefully by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.
Experts who follow the gaming industry claim sports betting will unleash an incredible torrent of gaming income for Wynn, and for the other gaming entities in Massachusetts.
Some experts have been indicating a great deal of turbulence might be caused by the opening of sports gaming in Massachusetts.
Specifically, they claim the state’s multi-billion dollar Lottery could be adversely affected.
If this is the case, the state’s successful Lottery could be impacted, causing a contraction in Lottery gaming and just the opposite in sports betting.
Experts claim it is impossible to know exactly what will be wagered with the sports betting platform that opened Tuesday.
Within 30 days, the state will know exactly what has been wagered here in Massachusetts, and specifically with Encore and Wynn Resorts.
The state will then measure the Lottery receipts for the same 30 day period and make assumptions based on the data.
Some experts consider sports betting a bonanza and are convinced sports betting will dwarf early expectations.
If this is the case, the new gaming modality will likely require regulation, especially to protect gamblers from burying themselves in debt with sports wagers they cannot afford and over which many gamblers will likely lose their self-control.
The industry already has fail-safe systems to limit losses of chronic gamblers.
However the lure of sports betting is expected to be intense and in some aspects, all consuming in the Massachusetts mar- ketplace where sports betting has always been allowed through illegal means.
Legal sports betting that began Tuesday is the final nail in the coffin for local remaining bookmakers.
In this respect, the state has done the right thing as sports betting will generate millions of dollars of new tax revenues for the state, which then distributes that to the cities and towns.
Efforts by the newly empowered industry to draw new bettors to the casino and to the sports betting apparatus in Massachusetts includes a number of cash giveaways or supplements intended to reward those for their participation and to cause them to bet more and more.
This is bonanza time for the gaming business in Massachusetts.
The only two questions that matter are these: how much will be bet collectively?
How much tax money will be raised?