The new bill seeks to ban the propeller bets, to impose other sports betting regulations

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Some see shadows of the epidemic of opioids in the online sports betting industry in Massachusetts.

When the state senator John Keenan examines the landscape of sports betting in the Massachusetts today, he sees a strangely familiar echo of the past. He sees powerful companies using daring marketing tactics to push a product that can be used safely but which can also destroy lives. He sees these companies blaming individuals not being able to control themselves while pocketing massive sums. He sees the first days of the opioid epidemic.

The comparison is not an exaggeration, insists Keenan, and sports betting companies use the same manual deployed by those who have recklessly sold drugs like Oxycontin.

“They target these people, knowing that they are dependent, and they earn most of their money to those who are dependent. And they do it with very aggressive marketing, a bit like Purdue Pharma,” Keenan told Boston.com.

The proposed solution? A new bill that would impose major regulations on the new sports betting industry booming in the state. Nicknamed the “Bettor Health Act”, it targets the practices that the defenders of public health say that the outbuildings in the fuel game.

THE legislation Prohibit what is called Paris of accessoriesProhibiting advertising of sports betting during sports programs, obliges companies to double their contributions to a state fund which supports the treatment services of drug addiction, to increase the tax on business income on sports betting companies, to limit the amount of money that a person can bet every day without being subject to a “accessibility check” and require that operators provide more data from the state.

‘We are already behind’

Keenan, a Democrat from Quincy who tabled the bill alongside the representative of the state Lindsay Sabadosa and the senator Patricia Jehlen, said that the alarm ringtones had started to leave for him little time after the sports betting online online legalized In the Massachusetts two years ago.

People immediately complained about the prevalence of sports betting advertisements. Keenan noticed that many of these announcements included “deceptive” promotions where, for example, bettors were offered hundreds of dollars in credits to bet only $ 5 on their own money. Many bettors have not made the warnings associated with these promotions, he said.

In his district south of Boston, a “constant drum” of calls to politicians to act regularly. Then, while billions of dollars in stacked Paris, Keenan began to hear more people struggling with a dependence on the game. He heard stories of people jumping for work to play, of those who already have financially excessive, rent and missed mortgage payments, people turning to crime to support their habits. Those who asked for help had to pay for sometimes expensive treatment.

The clock turns to prevent another crisis in its own right, he said.

“If we do not learn what happened with the epidemic of opioids and we go to this as quickly as possible – and I think we are already late – then we will have a public health crisis,” said Keenan.

At the national level, the sports betting industry saw $ 13.71 billion in revenue in 2024, a record. The previous income record, 11.04 billion dollars, was established in 2023, Espn reported. A recent investigation Siena College and St. Bonaventure University noted that 22% of all Americans have an active online sports betting account. This includes 48% of men aged 18 to 49. Most Americans support the legalization of online sports betting, but they also think that it should be better regulated.

In the Massachusetts, the players quickly taken on online sports betting. People here have spent almost $ 14 billion On sports betting since its introduction, the vast majority of these bets being placed online.

Last year, the state indicated that its gaming chest Given a 121% increase in callsIncluding an increase of 41% of references to treatment and a 40% increase in calls for helping aid for a loved one. But the line was also flooded with players looking for technical help with their mobile sports betting platforms, and not help to brake their habits. State officials have attributed this to an increase in sports betting advertisements, which list the assistance line.

Although online sports betting is illegal for anyone under the age of 21 in Massachusetts, many have expressed concerns about young Avoid age requirements and develop problematic gaming habits.

A particularly popular form of online sports betting is accommodation betting: bets not connected to the overall result of a game or a match. Instead, people can bet on individual land in a baseball match or individual games in a football match. It can be very addictive, said Keenan.

The propeller bets offer an easy and easy way to keep an interesting game, even if it is clear that a bet made on the overall result of a game will not succeed. They also give bettors the opportunity to win back what they have lost on their initial bets.

“I heard (propeller Paris) called the cocaine crack of sports betting. This gives this instant gratuity, it triggers the same receivers as what crack and other drugs do,” he said.

Decline

THE Alliance of sports bettingwhich represents the drafts and other major sports betting operators, says that “large alarmist titles” obscure the fact that legal sports betting are well regulated and not a significant risk for minor populations. The organization indicates studies that have shown that problems of problems of problems have remained stable at 1-2% for decades and that recent legalization does not supply dependence.

“Data shows that problem gambling rats Remain Low since the Rise of Legal Sports Betting, Consumer Protections on the Legal Market Are Strong Than Ever, and That Most People spend Less Per Month on Sports Betting Than They They Spend in A Week On Their Morning Starbucks,” Nathan Click, Spokesperson for the Sports Betting Alliance, Recently Told The Boston Globe.

Although this group indicates that the increase in taxes on legal operators will encourage bettors to use unregulated offshore applications to place their bettors, Keenan does not agree. This did not happen in states like New Hampshire and Rhode Island which promulgated similar laws, he said, and it does not expect it to happen in the Massachusetts.

While Keenan says he has only received positive comments on voters’ law, he expects a fierce opposition from the sports betting industry.

“Whenever there is a lot of money involved, they are great. They will do what they have to do to continue to earn the money they earn,” he said. “This is what businesses do and that’s good. But when companies tighten products that can become addictive and create ravages and ruin lives, there must be reasonable and common sense regulation. ”