Last week, the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies discussed online casino gambling. The leading operator of three casinos in the Commonwealth, Wynn Resorts, has stated that it does not support iGaming.

The sole domestic property owned by Wynn, a Las Vegas-based company, is located in Massachusetts. Representatives from Encore Boston Harbor, which is situated in Everett, directly across the Mystic River from the capital city, spoke against the Bay State's acceptance of iGaming.

According to Encore Boston Harbor's executive director of government relations, Eileen McAnney, legalizing iGaming would significantly raise the prevalence of problem gambling.She went on to say that iGaming negatively impacts retail resort operations, endangering Encore's 3,000 employees as well as the $15 million it owes the state each month from slot machine and table game sales.

"The rationale that internet casino gambling will increase state revenues does not factor in the significant cannibalization of brick-and-mortar gaming taxes, lost hotel, restaurant, and entertainment tax revenues, lost tax revenues stemming from significant job losses, lost tax revenue from reductions in casino purchases from small businesses and suppliers, and the social costs related to increased problem gambling, bankruptcies, welfare, health care costs, homelessness, domestic violence and family seperation, criminal justice impacts, and more,” McAnney declared

The gaming business in Massachusetts is dominated by Encore Boston Harbor. The Wynn property's total gaming income from live-dealer tables and in-person slots has averaged roughly $60 million per month over the last 12 months. The slots-only Plainridge Park Casino came in third place with about $15 million, while MGM Springfield came in a far cry in second place with almost $20 million.

Sands, Wynn Outliers 

Only seven states allow online casino gambling: Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and West Virginia.

While Wynn Resorts used to run its WynnBet online casino in New Jersey, Michigan, and West Virginia, it no longer engages in any iGaming, even though a number of those states permit casino firms without a physical presence to get iGaming licenses. In Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana, New York, Tennessee, Virginia, and Massachusetts, WynnBet Sportsbook also had online operations.  

iGaming and online sports betting have been avoided by Wynn and Las Vegas Sands, a longtime Strip rival that owned and ran The Venetian and Palazzo until 2022. Wynn and Sands' opposition to online gambling has remained mostly consistent, in contrast to the resorts' main rivals, MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment.

Advocates Say They Make Easy Money 

Last week, lobbyists from all across the nation arrived on Beacon Hill to urge state legislators to approve iGaming. There are already internet casinos operating in Massachusetts, according to testimony from John Pappas of the iDevelopment & Economic Association (iDEA), a nonprofit dedicated to promoting legal online gaming.

"Let’s be clear, iGaming is happening today in the commonwealth. A recent report with one of our member companies, GeoComply, found that residents are actively gambling with illegal online platforms. According to the data, residents conduct more than 250K monthly searches for online casino and poker content, and that’s resulted in 1.2 million visits to illegal online casino sites,” Pappas said.

“These casinos are aggressively advertising to consumers, who don’t even recognize that they’re engaging with an illegal gambling platform,” Pappas continued.

Pappas assured the committee that the proposed iGaming measures will create sustainable tax revenue without having an adverse effect on land-based revenue, while also safeguarding consumers and promoting responsible play.

Boston-based DraftKings, FanDuel, Fanatics, and BetMGM are among the iDEA members.