WESTERN MASS. – Follow the casino and gaming industry and you’ll quickly see the growth of sports betting across the nation.

Once the province of informal wages, football cards “for entertainment purposes only” and pools in the work place, sports betting has become very big business. Currently, according to ESPN, there are 20 states that have legalized sports betting on some level.

And 2021, may be the commonwealth’s turn to make it legal here.

Noting the “growing momentum” for sports betting, State Sen. Eric Lesser told Reminder Publishing, “Speaking for myself, I think it’s time.” Lesser co-chaired the committee that studied sports betting during the last session.

Last year in Massachusetts, the House had approved a sports betting bill, but the Senate did not move forward with it.

Recently, Gov. Charlie Baker has introduced a bill himself, which according to gambling.com “HD 678 would allow licensed casinos and online platforms in Massachusetts to offer online sports betting, but customers could only bet on professional sports. No collegiate, high school athletics or Esports bets would be accepted in Baker’s bill.”

Colin Young of the State House News Service reported on Jan. 27, “With Rhode Island, New Hampshire and New York already accepting bets on sporting events and other nearby states moving in the same direction, it’s ‘kind of inappropriate’ for Massachusetts to maintain a ban on sports wagering, Gov. Charlie Baker said. For the third year in a row, Baker is counting on $35 million in revenue from sports betting in his latest budget proposal, but the Legislature would have to legalize the activity first. The governor's fiscal 2022 budget plan (H 1) includes language to allow betting on professional sports. The House approved sports betting last summer as part of its economic development bill, but the Senate never debated the issue or brought it to a vote. Baker said that he got the message from lawmakers last year that sports betting ‘was something that they just weren't going to get to,’ but he said he expects the idea will be given some attention this session. ‘I do think it’s something they want to take on in this legislative session for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is we now have a lot of experience with other states in the Northeast that are in the space and it seems kind of inappropriate at this point for us not to be there as well,” Baker said. He added, “I do think this thing is starting to mature and I think it just makes sense for us to give our people the same chance to play that people have in other states.”

State Sen. Brendan Crighton has also refiled an amended sports betting bill recently. The State House New Service reported, “Crighton’s newest bill would create an opportunity for the state’s two casinos in Everett and Springfield, the slots parlor in Plainville, horse-racing license holders and mobile platforms like the Boston-based DraftKings to host in-person and online sport betting.”

Lesser said he is “hopeful we can do it soon this year, this session.”

He said the General Court was more focused last year on economic development as part of COVID-19 recovery. Sports betting was part of an economic development bill, but Lesser said it would now be considered separately.

Lesser noted the detail of consideration that must go into the legislation. He explained lawmakers must determine if people could bet on college games as well as professional matches. Would sports betting be just digital and online or at actual locations such as the state’s casinos and racetracks? What kind of impact would sports betting have on the State Lottery?

Lesser readily acknowledged sports betting “is happening widespread already in the black market.” He added the commonwealth needs to make it mainstream and receive tax revenues from it.

Lesser believes adding that tax revenue would not be a “game changer,” but would be a contributor to state revenues. The senator said he has been hearing from “a lot of people” about sports betting.

“It’s been very intense,” he said of the interest from the public as well as the gaming industry.