The 2024 Summer Olympics is the first Olympics for many states with legal sports betting. This includes Massachusetts, which launched its sports wagering industry in August 2022.
While Massachusetts will likely benefit from a sizable jump in gaming revenue and tax dollars, the state is cautious about what the games could mean for problem gambling rates. With the spike in betting volume and the uncharted waters the games bring, Massachusetts regulators are proceeding with care.
The Paris Olympics are expected to set a new betting record at Massachusetts sportsbooks, despite betting being prohibited on some Olympic events.
Olympics expected to set new Massachusetts sports betting record
The summer months are usually a slow season for sports wagering. The NBA and NHL have yet to begin, the NFL is in its offseason, and collegiate football is still pretty far from kicking off. The only real draw in the United States is the start of the MLB season.
Rather than a summertime betting reprieve, Bay State bettors dove into yet another massive gambling event this July. And experts are now suggesting that 2024 Olympics betting in Massachusetts could result in unprecedented betting activity.
Thanks to this summer’s Olympic-sized sporting event calendar, upcoming Massachusetts sports betting reports could reveal more action than March Madness or the Super Bowl.
Bettors wagered an estimated $23.1 billion nationwide on the 2024 Super Bowl, leading analysts to expect upwards of $30 billion bet on the 2024 Paris Olympics, which featured 329 events across 32 sports.
And as Massachusetts retail sportsbooks witnessed firsthand, Bay State bettors eagerly contributed to that sizeable sum.
Massachusetts sportsbooks saw Olympic influx in betting activity
Robert Westerfield, Vice President of Casino Operations at MGM Springfield, said the casino began seeing an uptick in activity during the game’s qualifying rounds:
“I mean the Olympics every four years is a big deal, now that you can make wagers on it, it’s an even bigger deal. We’re starting to get a lot of action already before they open. Women’s soccer of course, basketball, those kinds of things are really popular so it hasn’t even started yet and we’re getting action on it so we’re looking forward to it.”
Westerfield said Springfield Sportsbook has already seen significant business this year thanks to the NFL and NBA playoffs. Now, Olympics betting is the athletic cherry on top of what would otherwise be a slow summer for the gambling industry:
“Obviously, this is our first one so we’re really excited to see what it turns out. But based on the history of what we’ve been doing in the past with football, baseball, and the playoffs, all those events have been really popular, so we think the Olympics is really going to be a home run.”
Even with a slightly limited catalog of permitted wagers, Olympic betting never seemed to falter in Massachusetts.
Massachusetts sportsbooks prohibited betting on these Olympic events
Massachusetts gaming regulators took time to implement certain Olympic betting safeguards prior to the games. In order to uphold the integrity of gaming, the MGC ventured to ban certain events from being wagered on.
First, Massachusetts sports betting prohibits any Olympic event in which a winner is selected by judges. This is because there is no clear basis for crowning a victor, and it is subjective to the judges’ personal preference.
This is how Massachusetts sports wagering operations manager Andrew Steffen outlined the prohibited bet to sports betting operators:
“Any event at the Olympics that is primarily based on the assessment of judges or a panel of judges (is) not allowed. We have identified several Olympic events and we have relayed those events to the operators, that they are not permitted to offer those sports for wagering.”
As a result, Massachusetts prohibits wagering on these Olympic events:
- Artistic Gymnastics
- Skateboarding
- Diving
- Equestrian
Betting on teams from Russia & Belarus also banned at Massachusetts sportsbooks
Massachusetts prohibits another type of bet as well — this one, for a very different reason. Due to Russia’s war with Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee decided to ban teams from Russia and Belarus from competing.
That said, some athletes from Russia and Belarus are allowed to compete as “Individual Neutral Athletes,” which prohibits any representation of their homeland. Massachusetts gaming regulators clarified that so long as bets are placed on individual neutral athletes, those would be accepted.
“Wagering is permitted on a Russian- or Belarusian-born, based, or affiliated athlete competing individually or on a team in an event authorized in the commission’s catalog if the event is scheduled to be conducted outside of Russia or Belarus and they are not known to represent or promote those countries.”
Any operator that accepts such a prohibited bet will be subject to punitive action, such as the fines and penalties BetMGM is facing currently.
