The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is considering whether or not to penalize BetMGM Sportsbook for offering bets on sporting events affiliated with Russia and Belarus.
At the MGC’s Aug. 1 meeting, commissioners learned of a noncompliance issue involving BetMGM accepting wagers on “events where Belarus and Russia were participants,” which Massachusetts sports betting prohibits.
The commissioners agreed to allow the MGC’s Investigations and Enforcement Bureau (IEB) to further review the matter and recommend a penalty, if any.
BetMGM Sportsbook faces penalty over banned bets in Massachusetts
According to the commission’s enforcement counsel, Nathaniel Kennedy, Gaming Laboratories International (GLI) performed an audit of BetMGM Massachusetts in June. The audit came after the sportsbook discovered it had been offering prohibited markets in the state. This included bets related to soccer penalty cards and player prop markets.
GLI determined that Massachusetts bettors placed 2,221 prohibited wagers related to Russian and Belarusian athletics between March 24, 2023, and June 11, 2024, for a total handle of $2,324.14. Kennedy said that the majority were Belarusian wagers; however, there were four instances of wagers tied to Russia.
The noncompliance issue was reported to MGC on behalf of BetMGM on June 26.
Massachusetts banned Russian, Belarusian wagers in light of Ukraine invasion
Prior to Massachusetts’ sports betting launch in early 2023, the commission added a discretionary rule forbidding wagering on leagues, events or athletes from Belarus and Russia. The rule was in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 . Several major sportsbooks, including DraftKings and FanDuel, ceased offering betting markets related to Russian and Belarusian events in the wake of the invasion. (Belarus is a strong Russian military ally involved in the invasion.)
The Massachusetts Sports Wagering Catalog of approved events includes the following rule:
“No wager shall be offered or accepted in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by a licensed sports wagering operator on any event or league overseen by a Russian or Belarusian governing body or body headquartered in Russia or Belarus. Further, no wager shall be offered or accepted on any athlete competing individually or on any team in an event authorized in the Commission’s catalog if the individual or team is known to represent Russia or Belarus.”
At the request of DraftKings last March, the commission clarified the rule. Wording was amended to allow wagers “on a Russian or Belarusian born, based, or affiliated athlete competing individually or on a team in an event . . . if the event is scheduled to be conducted outside of Russia or Belarus and they are not known to represent or promote these countries.”
The amended rule allows for Olympic betting in Massachusetts on Russian or Belarusian athletes, as long as they are not explicitly acknowledging or promoting their connection to Russia or Belarus. While the Olympics doesn’t allow those countries to have teams at the games, it allows athletes from both nations to participate by competing as Individual Neutral Athletes.
Louisiana suspended betting on Russian, Belarusian leagues in 2022
BetMGM did not reveal the exact events or athletes that bettors wagered on via the Massachusetts sportsbook. But, as BetMGM stopped offering the wagers in June after discovering the noncompliance issue, the events weren’t Olympic-related.
Bettors in Massachusetts could never bet on Russian or Belarusian events. Louisiana, however, initially allowed such wagers when online sports betting launched there in January of 2022.
But in March of 2022, the Louisiana Gaming Control Board removed the events and leagues from its catalog of approved wagers. This came shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. On March 10, 2022, the Louisiana catalog added a note saying:
“Russian and Belarussian governing bodies, leagues, teams, players, and events have been suspended from the Official Sports Betting Catalog of Events and Wagers until further notice.”
The leagues and events marked “suspended” in Louisiana’s sports wagering catalog include:
- Belarusian and Russian First Tier basketball leagues
- Belarusian First Tier handball leagues
- Belarusian and Russian First Tier volleyball leagues
- Belarusian Extraleague hockey
- Russian Liga table tennis
