MGM Springfield sports betting license scheduled for Monday consideration

State gambling regulators are scheduled to consider an application from MGM Springfield for a sports betting license on Monday after criticizing the casino last week for what they described as an incomplete submission.

At a Dec. 7 hearing, members of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission delayed a vote on granting a license to the Western Massachusetts casino after commissioners expressed frustration with how the application answered too many questions by refer to a separate document from BetMGM, an online sportsbook. .

If approved, BetMGM will provide many of the services needed to conduct in-person betting at the Springfield-based casino. The online sportsbook is also seeking a mobile sports betting license tied to MGM Springfield.

• Read more: Encore Boston Harbor sports betting license approved by regulators

But at the hearing last Wednesday, commissioners said they were “not terribly satisfied” with the number of references to the BetMGM application. Commissioner Nakisha Skinner said much of the information she needed to “fully and comprehensively” consider MGM Springfield’s bid for a license was “essentially missing.”

“There are significant references to the BetMGM app, and it will be a few more days before we get to that particular app,” she said. “I am happy to continue the discussion, I think it is necessary. And in terms of fully evaluating and deliberating on the application, I’m just not prepared to do that today without having the benefit of reviewing the BetMGM application.”

Casino officials filed a supplemental filing with the Gambling Commission after the hearing, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

The Gambling Commission meets at 10 a.m. Monday with an agenda that indicates commissioners may take a vote on approving a sports betting license for MGM Springfield and a mobile license for BetMGM.

Womble Bond Dickinson attorney Jed Nosal, who advised MGM Springfield through the licensing process, said he understood the commissioners’ concerns and that the original application “definitely relies on what I’m going to describe as a supplier.”

“I think the category one sports betting application stands on its own,” he said at the hearing last week.

• Read more: Frustrated regulators delay vote on sports betting at MGM Springfield

Cathy Judd-Stein, chairwoman of the commission, made it clear what casino officials needed to do next – every time the MGM Springfield application referred to BetMGM, copy the response from the BetMGM document to the MGM Springfield application, she said.

“I’m getting completely literal so that we have an application that when you read it from page to page, we don’t have to go to another application or another category,” Judd-Stein said.

Gambling commissioners have already approved a sports betting license for Encore Boston Harbor that will allow it to take in-person betting starting early next year, though the casino in Everett still has a few hoops to jump through.

Regulators also approved a mobile license for WynnBET, which is linked to Encore Boston Harbor, although mobile betting is not scheduled to launch until early March, commissioners said.

Commissioners are scheduled to consider a sports betting license application from Plainridge Park Casino next week, a vote that was also delayed last week after regulators investigated the casino’s ties to Barstool Sports and Dave Portnoy, the subject of a recent New York Times piece that scrutinized allegations. of sexual misconduct and problem gambling facing him.

• Read more: Casinos’ apps determine what sports betting can look like en masse.

Penn Entertainment, the casino’s parent company, bought a 36% stake in Barstool Sports two years ago and has outlined plans to acquire the entire company in February 2023. Penn Entertainment also filed an application in Massachusetts for Barstool Sportsbook to offer mobile betting. to the Plainville-based casino.

The Gaming Commission said the agency may also consider mobile apps tied to Plainridge Park Casino from Penn Sports Interactive and Fanatics at its Monday meeting.

“If time does not permit the applications for category three licenses to be linked to a Plainridge Park Casino category one sports betting license, those evaluations will be moved to a date in early January and more information will be provided,” the commission said in a statement earlier this week.