Massachusetts residents who want to legally bet on their favorite Boston sports teams can soon stop driving across state lines.
Beacon Hill lawmakers successfully reached a compromise agreement on a bill authorizing sports betting — including on some college sports — in the commonwealth early Monday morning, as the final hours of formal sessions trudged well beyond Sunday’s official midnight deadline.
The outcome came after Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano in recent days publicly sparred over contentious components of the closely watched bill, particularly whether or not to allow wagering on collegiate sports.
Both chambers are expected to pass the bill and send it to Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk later Monday. Sports betting is already legal in 30 states, as well as Washington, D.C.
Baker has previously committed to signing a sports betting bill.
Lawmakers hesitated to say exactly when betting could start in Massachusetts, though Mariano noted early Monday that casinos are prepared but now must await formal regulations.
“We missed a lot of the big events, but I think Encore and MGM in Springfield will open up almost immediately as soon as the laws are signed,” Mariano told reporters.
Betting is allowed on out-of-state colleges and universities, but not those in Massachusetts, Senate Ways and Means Chairman Michael Rodrigues told reporters Monday as he outlined the rough contours of the compromise.
There is an exception, though, for Massachusetts schools that are “lucky enough” to make it into March Madness, Rodrigues singled out as an example.
“The Senate bill came out with no college at all — the House had full college,” Rodrigues said. “That’s how you get things done, is reach compromise.”
Spilka throughout the final week of formal lawmaking had urged Mariano to stop viewing the omission of collegiate sports in the Senate bill as a deal-breaker in negotiations.
“I would like to see sports betting be concluded and pass and on the governor’s desk before the session is over,” Spilka said during a WBUR interview on Tuesday. “The speaker has said ... if college sports betting isn’t in it, there’s no point in doing it. I would hope and I would ask that the speaker change that position and not take an all-or-nothing approach.”
But Mariano — who has repeatedly voiced concern that refusing to allow collegiate sports betting may escalate black market activity — on Friday openly criticized Spilka.
“I kind of find that amazing that the Senate president called me out to be flexible, and I could make the same request of her,” Mariano told reporters.
By early Monday morning, Mariano struck a more diplomatic tone with his Senate counterpart.
“The fact that she was concerned about the comments by a few college presidents, we thought that maybe taking that out would speed it along and get us to a deal,” Mariano said, referring to college presidents and athletic directors who opposed sports betting.
It’s unclear how much revenue legalized sports wagering will garner in Massachusetts. House Ways and Means Chairman Aaron Michlewitz said the figure could have reached $60 million if all collegiate sports betting had been included in the final agreement.
Meanwhile, the cost of scrapping collegiate sports betting altogether could have tallied about $25 million, Mariano said.
Beyond collegiate betting, the chambers were also divided over sports betting licensing parameters, tax rates and advertising limits.
Wagering comes with a “very competitive tax rate” of 15% in person and 20% via mobile applications, Rodrigues said.
Upholding a provision from the Senate bill meant to curb problem gambling, House and Senate negotiators agreed that credit cards are not allowed for betting. But another preventive measure — a whistle-to-whistle ban on sports betting advertising during live broadcasts — did not emerge from negotiations.
“We were worried about the unconstitutionality of the issue,” Michlewitz said. “We did have back and forth on that.”
Boston-based DraftKings celebrated the reconciled sports betting bill.
“We are thrilled that our home state has acted to protect consumers, create jobs and grow revenue in the commonwealth,” DraftKings CEO Jason Robins said in a statement Monday morning. “We are hopeful that the legislature will move to quickly pass this and Governor Baker will sign it into law.”
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