The Massachusetts Commission is holding hearings for betting violations

The Massachusetts The Gambling Commission held hearings with two retailers on Tuesday sports betting Operators to discuss possible penalties for accepted illegal bets.

While the MGC was discussing illegal bets made at the Encore Boston Harbor (WynnBET) and Plainridge Park Casino (Bar stool sports betting) it did not issue any direct decisions related to the violations. These will probably be published in writing at a later date.

Each violation stemmed from unique rules in Massachusetts in connection with betting on in-state college teams. Massachusetts only allows such wagers when the teams are participating in tournaments involving four or more teams, meaning most regular-season games are off-limits.

Encore Boston Harbor accepted bets on a women’s basketball game in BC and Plainridge Park Casino accepted bets on a men’s basketball game at Merrimack College during the first week of legal sports betting, both in violation of Massachusetts wagering laws.

— NBC10 Boston (@NBC10Boston) February 9, 2023

Encore accepts disallowed basketball bets

Encore Boston Harbor allowed wagering on a Boston College women’s basketball game for about five hours on February 2nd. The error was due to the fact that the supplier GAN did not block the game, and on Tuesday it was additionally clarified how the error occurred.

Previously, the MGC believed that all women’s college basketball games were available for betting at WynnBET’s retail store. That wasn’t the case, as the Boston College women’s basketball team was the only non-suspended college team in the state as of February 2. The failure to block bets on the Eagles was due to the women’s basketball team having two different names in the GAN system. and the company only blocked one of the names.

“The situation that happened was actually an anomaly,” said Rob Lekites, GAN’s vice president of sportsbook sales and operations in North America. “It was the only Massachusetts college team that had two names for it in our system.”

Boston College has been listed as both “Boston College Women’s Basketball” and “Boston College Eagles Women’s Basketball” in the GAN system. The bug was quickly fixed after those involved realized the mistake.

“We regret inadvertently offering betting on the Boston College women’s basketball game. … As our system matures, we expect these events to become far less likely,” said Jacqui Krum, senior vice president and general counsel at Encore Boston Harbor.

College edition drives up Plainridge Park

Plainridge Park Casino allowed in-person retail wagering on a Merrimack College men’s basketball game for seven hours on February 2nd. Merrimack was incorrectly listed as Florida College in technology provider Kambi’s system.

A total of 33 bets were accepted on the Merrimack v Long Island University game. The error has since been resolved and is not expected to recur at retail sportsbook or Barstool Sportsbooks mobile sports betting Platform. Mobile sportsbook went live in Massachusetts last week.

“We regret this error,” said North Grounsell, Plainridge Park’s general manager. “We ask the Commission to consider our prompt detection and self-report, as well as our open and transparent communication in this regard [issue]and our timely implementation of a remediation process.”