Key technical blunders led to a series of illegal bets on college athletics accepted at two Massachusetts casinos last month, representatives of Encore Boston Harbor and Plainridge Park Casino detailed Tuesday in a pair of adjudicatory hearings.
In the first several days of legal sports betting in Massachusetts, Encore, PPC and MGM Springfield all self-reported accepting unauthorized bets. The hearings, held by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, were the first formal judicial proceedings concerning the illegal bets made at all three Massachusetts casinos that are licensed to offer sports betting, and its decision could affect how similar incidents are handled going forward.
Under Massachusetts law, bettors cannot wager on games involving a collegiate Massachusetts team unless the game is part of a tournament. Yet on two separate occasions in February Encore accepted wagers on the Boston College women’s basketball team, the first on Feb. 2, when the casino authorized a $70 parlay which included a bet on BC v. Notre Dame.
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