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The Massachusetts Gaming Commission commissioners spent the good part of Thursday discussing if they should take a stance on the practice of limiting or banning sharp (professional) sports bettors.
In the end, it was mostly all to do about nothing.
Regulatory Writer and Editor for XLMedia Robert Linnehan acknowledged via his Twitter page:
"I deleted an oddly worded tweet from earlier about the @MassGamingComm. What was discussed today was the commissioners asking if they needed to share an opinion on the policy of sportsbooks limiting sharp bettors.
I deleted an oddly worded tweet from earlier about the @MassGamingComm. What was discussed today was the commissioners asking if they needed to share an opinion on the policy of sportsbooks limiting sharp bettors.
— RLinnehanXL (@RLinnehanXl) January 13, 2023
No opinion was given. The topic will be discussed in the future.
Professional sports bettor Gadoon “Spanky” Kryollos got excited...for about five minutes....then reality set in. Yes, Spanky, it was all just a dream.
"It’s about time the people that are supposedly working for us look out for our interests. Operators should not be granted a license if they resort to the extreme measure of booting or limiting tax paying citizens. Either learn how to book or get the fu*k out of our country."
Emphasis on the word "supposedly".
Steve Tilley further elaborated on the reality via Spanky's Twitter feed. We should note that the vast majority of those operators entering the U.S. regulated sports gambling market are Europeans.
"Unfortunately the ‘European’ model is more rewarding for the operators. They won’t worry if you call them dressmakers as long as the money rolls in. It is more profitable for them spend money paying bonuses to squares than spend it on paying sharps."
The problem is, none of these companies are turning a profit (rare exception is FanDuel for one month in the summer) and some of the state markets are extremely saturated (i.e. Iowa).
For the successful sports bettors, books are quickly learning they can get away with this type of behaviour.
One gambler tweeted to Spanky:
"My account was banned last week, no call, no help in chat, nothing. Claim they’ll call, been 13 days not a peep."
- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com
