The Massachusetts Gaming Commission will discuss ‘wager limitations’ in a meeting on Wednesday

In Massachusetts, gaming regulators are preparing themselves for a deep dive into sports betting limits. Watchdogs across the market in Massachusetts have questions about what operators refer to as an “industry practice.” On Wednesday, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) has a meeting scheduled to discuss “wager limitations.” Those attending the meeting include sports betting operators, bettors, responsible gambling groups, and promoters of “alternative” sportsbook models. The rest of the sports betting industry in the United States will be watching intently as the MGC is the first regulator to dive into the topic in a public setting. This past May, the MGC helped a roundtable of wager limitations but none of the active operators in the state attended.

How would ‘wager limitations’ affect the Massachusetts sports betting market?

Wager limiting is when a sportsbook operator limits how much an individual can wager based on their history with that operator. This is also known as “stake factoring.” Sports bettors and industry operators do not deny that wager limiting is happening. However, the debate is actually about why bettors need limitations in the first place. The MGC wants to know exactly how many bettors have received wager limitations and to what extent. While bettors feel it’s not fair to limit how much a person can bet, the operators need to be able to protect themselves. Operators are worried about the small group of bettors who wait to pounce when the sportsbook has bad lines or odds. There are also groups of bettors who hunt in packs and look to take advantage of sportsbooks.

Why are bettors being limited?

At the MGC’s limited roundtable in May, professional sports bettor Jack Andrews discussed why sports bettors are limited. Operators deny the fact that they limit bettors who continuously win. While there have been operators who deny that claim, this has been a long-held suspicion among savvy bettors in the market. The only sportsbook to show up at the round table in May was Bally’s. They claimed that wager limiting is based on underlying factors that are proprietary to Bally’s interactive. Jack Andrews claimed that Bally’s uses technology provided by Kambi Group PLC. He said Kambi has a history of “stake factoring” customers.