What Gaming Commission Vote Means For Massachusetts Sports Betting

Massachusetts just got one (small) step closer to the launch of sports betting.

While Bay State bettors are unlikely going to be able to place legal in-state wagers during the NFL regular season, there is hope for the Super Bowl.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Friday voted on and passed the timeline for the launch of in-person and mobile sports betting in the state. It's expected, according to multiple reports, that in-person betting will be up and running in late January and mobile wagers should go live in March.

In-person betting should be ready to go sooner given the infrastructure already in place. The state's casinos are lined up to have sports betting and have been building or allocating physical space to take bets.

Mobile is a little trickier given the uncertainty around licenses. It's not entirely clear how many operations will be granted those licenses and that makes the timeline less certain. As part of Friday's developments, the MGC also released a scoping survey for companies intending to apply for operator licenses. Those applications are due by Oct. 17.

Massachusetts lawmakers spent a good portion of the summer debating and negotiating the new sports betting bill. Gov. Charlie Baker signed it into law in August.

It's obviously not as early as many hoped, but bettors should be able to get bets down for the Super Bowl on Feb. 12.