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| 2 | 2 | | SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1657 FILED ON: 1/16/2025 |
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| 3 | 3 | | SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 302 |
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| 4 | 4 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 5 | 5 | | _________________ |
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| 6 | 6 | | PRESENTED BY: |
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| 7 | 7 | | John F. Keenan |
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| 8 | 8 | | _________________ |
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| 9 | 9 | | To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General |
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| 10 | 10 | | Court assembled: |
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| 11 | 11 | | The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill: |
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| 12 | 12 | | An Act addressing economic, health and social harms caused by sports betting. |
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| 13 | 13 | | _______________ |
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| 14 | 14 | | PETITION OF: |
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| 15 | 15 | | NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :John F. KeenanNorfolk and PlymouthLindsay N. Sabadosa1st Hampshire1/18/2025Patricia D. JehlenSecond Middlesex2/19/2025 1 of 3 |
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| 16 | 16 | | SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1657 FILED ON: 1/16/2025 |
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| 17 | 17 | | SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 302 |
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| 18 | 18 | | By Mr. Keenan, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 302) of John F. Keenan, Lindsay N. |
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| 19 | 19 | | Sabadosa and Patricia D. Jehlen for legislation to address economic, health and social harms |
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| 20 | 20 | | caused by sports betting. Economic Development and Emerging Technologies. |
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| 21 | 21 | | The Commonwealth of Massachusetts |
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| 22 | 22 | | _______________ |
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| 23 | 23 | | In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court |
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| 24 | 24 | | (2025-2026) |
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| 25 | 25 | | _______________ |
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| 26 | 26 | | An Act addressing economic, health and social harms caused by sports betting. |
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| 27 | 27 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority |
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| 28 | 28 | | of the same, as follows: |
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| 29 | 29 | | 1 SECTION 1. Section 3 of chapter 23N, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition, is |
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| 30 | 30 | | 2hereby amended by striking out, in line 150, the following words:- “in-play bets, proposition bets |
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| 31 | 31 | | 3and straight bets”, and inserting in place thereof the following words:- “and straight bets; |
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| 32 | 32 | | 4provided, however, that sports wagering shall include neither in-play bets nor proposition bets”. |
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| 33 | 33 | | 5 SECTION 2. Section 4 of said chapter 23N, as so appearing, is hereby amended by |
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| 34 | 34 | | 6striking out, in line 22, the words "and (E)", and inserting in place thereof the following words:- |
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| 35 | 35 | | 7"(E) advertising related to sports wagering during a televised sporting event; and (F)" |
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| 36 | 36 | | 8 SECTION 3.Section 11 of said chapter 23N is hereby amended by inserting, after the |
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| 37 | 37 | | 9word "owners", in line 5, the following words:- ", agents, promoters". |
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| 38 | 38 | | 10 SECTION 4. Said section 11 is hereby amended by striking out, in line 20, the words |
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| 39 | 39 | | 11"and (v)", and inserting in place thereof the following words:- “(v) prohibit person from placing |
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| 40 | 40 | | 12wagers with an operator of more than $1,000 per day or $10,000 per month without said operator 2 of 3 |
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| 41 | 41 | | 13having conducted an affordability assessment of said person and determining that the daily or |
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| 42 | 42 | | 14monthly amounts wagered do not exceed 15 per cent of the amount said person has available in a |
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| 43 | 43 | | 15bank account; and (vi)” |
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| 44 | 44 | | 16 SECTION 5. Said section 11 is hereby further amended by inserting the following |
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| 45 | 45 | | 17subsection:- |
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| 46 | 46 | | 18 (l) Operators, directors, officers, owners, employees, affiliates and subcontractors of the |
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| 47 | 47 | | 19operator or sports wagering operator shall receive no compensation for any percentage of wagers |
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| 48 | 48 | | 20or deposits placed by a customer of the operator or sports wagering operator. |
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| 49 | 49 | | 21 SECTION 6. Section 14 of chapter 23N is hereby amended by striking out the figure |
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| 50 | 50 | | 22"20", in line 4, and inserting in place thereof the following figure:- "51". |
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| 51 | 51 | | 23 SECTION 7. Section 15 of said chapter 23N is hereby amended by striking out the figure |
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| 52 | 52 | | 24"$1,000,000", in line 37, and inserting in place thereof the following figure:- "$2,000,000". |
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| 53 | 53 | | 25 SECTION 8. Section 23 of said chapter 23N is hereby amended by inserting, after the |
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| 54 | 54 | | 26word “gambling”, in line 15, the following words:- “and suicide attempts, suicides and self-harm |
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| 55 | 55 | | 27among gamblers”. |
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| 56 | 56 | | 28 SECTION 9. Said section 23 is hereby further amended by inserting the following |
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| 57 | 57 | | 29subsection:- (c) Annually, each holder of an operator license that accepts wagers on sports events |
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| 58 | 58 | | 30and other events authorized pursuant to this chapter from individuals physically located in the |
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| 59 | 59 | | 31commonwealth using mobile applications or digital platforms approved by the commission shall |
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| 60 | 60 | | 32supply the commission with customer tracking data collected for each player’s online gambling. |
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| 61 | 61 | | 33The commission shall contract with an experienced nonprofit research entity to develop an 3 of 3 |
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| 62 | 62 | | 34anonymizing system that automatically removes from the customer tracking data personally |
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| 63 | 63 | | 35identifying information including player name, street address, bank or credit information and the |
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| 64 | 64 | | 36last 4 digits of a player’s zip code. The customer tracking data shall report on player |
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| 65 | 65 | | 37characteristics including, but not limited to, gender, age and region of residence; player behavior |
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| 66 | 66 | | 38including, but not limited to, frequency of play, length of play, speed of play, local time of play, |
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| 67 | 67 | | 39amounts wagered and, for each wager, whether the wager was (i) made during the sports contest |
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| 68 | 68 | | 40or before the contest began, or (ii) a parlay wager. The commission shall convey the anonymized |
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| 69 | 69 | | 41data to an experienced nonprofit research entity that shall make the data available to qualified |
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| 70 | 70 | | 42researchers to (i) conduct analyses that improve understanding of how gambling addiction |
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| 71 | 71 | | 43develops and progresses; (ii) develop evidence-based harm minimization strategies; and (iii) |
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| 72 | 72 | | 44develop evidence-based systems to monitor, detect and intervene in high-risk gambling. The |
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| 73 | 73 | | 45commission shall request reports on the customer tracking data to improve oversight of sports |
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| 74 | 74 | | 46gambling operations. |
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| 75 | 75 | | 47 SECTION 10. Section 2 of chapter 93A is hereby amended by inserting the following |
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| 76 | 76 | | 48subsection:- |
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| 77 | 77 | | 49 (d) The provisions of subsection (a) shall apply to advertising and promotion of wagers |
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| 78 | 78 | | 50authorized under chapter 23N related to any (1) bonus promotions, (2) same-game parlays, (3) |
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| 79 | 79 | | 51odds boosts, (4) reload bonus or (5) risk-free, no-sweat or other free wagers commonly |
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| 80 | 80 | | 52understood to have a similar meaning and utilized to attract a person to patronize a qualified |
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| 81 | 81 | | 53gaming entity. |
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