Massachusetts Continues to Investigate Sportsbooks’ Bettor Limiting Practices

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has announced it intends to seek data from the sportsbooks operating in the Commonwealth to determine how and why the operators are lowering betting limits on their customers.

Let’s take a closer look at the announcement and how it might impact top-rated sportsbooks in the state.

In Pursuit of the Truth

Mobile sportsbooks throughout the nation have allegedly lowered player limits without good cause, but few regulatory agencies are investigating why. However, that is not the case with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC), as it has been a trailblazer in this regard and is now demanding answers bolstered by “a detailed, but narrow, data request” regarding decisions on customer betting limits.

“We would formulate such a data request to seek specific player data from which our team could deduce (1) the percentage of their players that they limit, (2) how many players are being limited and exhibit winning behavior, and (3) how many players are being treated as VIPs and exhibit losing behavior,” a memo to commissioners explained.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that sportsbooks’ decisions concerning lowering customer limits are capricious and often without merit. The process can be exasperating for the consumer and may force them to turn to other sports betting avenues like offshore sportsbooks that do not pay taxes to gaming states like Massachusetts.

Gameplan

Once the relevant data is turned over to the state, MGC staffers will endeavor “to identify problem areas and remedies that we might recommend to the Commission.” The process is expected to take a few weeks, and once the initial round of data has been evaluated, more information may be requested. Upon review, further steps will be discussed and new regulations could be implemented.

“Such regulations might include requiring that patrons be notified when and how they’ve been limited, implementing reporting requirements regarding patron limitations, and/or requiring that operators establish clear and defined protocols used to limit patrons,” the memo noted.

National Concern

Massachusetts is not the only state in which sportsbooks may be unfairly limiting their customers, but the MGC is certainly the most proactive in seeking answers. This past summer, professional gamblers Billy Walters and Gadoon “Spanky” Kyrollos attended the National Committee of Legislators from Gaming States held in Pittsburgh.

Chief among the topics being discussed was sportsbooks’ lowering their customers’ betting limits without notice. The sportsbook operators do not agree that those decisions are based purely on winning bettors but rather on their behaviors.

“The thing that I’m really concerned with for legalized sports betting is that we have disparities,” Walters said. “I think in the United States that we were all born and raised to believe in everyone being treated equally and being treated fairly. So, if you qualify for a sportsbook account and your money is clean, it’s legal; I think you should be treated equally legally.”