One day after the one-year anniversary of retail sports betting in Massachusetts launching, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) met on Thursday and opted not to add betting categories in advance of the Super Bowl.
During public meeting No. 498, the state’s sports wagering division sought clarification on which pre-game Super Bowl proposition wagers may be available to the public for wagering. Nine categories were discussed: coin toss result (heads/tails), coin toss winner, team to receive opening kickoff, coin toss winner wins game, to win coin toss and win game, coin toss to be re-taken, coin toss call result, Gatorade color over coach and National Anthem length.
Country singer Reba McEntire will sing this year's edition on Feb. 11 as the San Francisco 49ers face the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs at 6:30 p.m. in Las Vegas (CBS). ESPN BET Massachusetts lists the 49ers as 2-point favorites in the game.
After a robust 45-minute discussion, the MGC determined it needed more information. But the MGC ended Thursday's meeting without making a decision on adding those markets. A spokesperson for the MGC said Friday operators "didn't have the intention to offer those markets at this time in Massachusetts." So Massachusetts bettors will be without some of the Super Bowl prop markets available in other states.
Fanatics Seeks Expanded Markets
One of the other agenda items Thursday was a request from Fanatics Sportsbook Massachusetts to add new betting markets, including team’s next head coach (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL), a player's next team (MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL) and a request to add the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL) to the event catalog.
Currently, the PWHL is eight games into its inaugural season with the league's next game Saturday. The PWHL is comprised of six teams: Boston, Minnesota, Montreal, New York, Ottawa and Toronto.
This will be the fifth hockey league offered by the state for Massachusetts betting apps users: NHL, AHL (American Hockey League), NCAA and IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation). The PWHL event catalog is currently being offered in Connecticut (Fanatics) and Arizona, Colorado and Kansas (DraftKings).
The MGC approved wagering on the new league by a unanimous 5-0 vote with a condition the league’s player association be notified. Both wagering categories of a team’s next head coach and a player’s next team were not voted on due to concerns over integrity and inside information. The MGC would like to see more information on both with potential guardrails to be discussed in the future for requests like this moving forward. Both are currently being offered by Fanatics in Colorado, Maryland and West Virginia.
