What’s got me going this week? The latest news on sports betting.

Colin A. Young from the State House News Service wrote, “It is now up to the Gaming Commission to make legal sports betting a reality for Bay Staters. The commission is charged under the new law with regulating sports betting and the staff there has already come up with a list of about 225 regulations that will need to be drafted.

“‘[A] great deal of work has already been done by our team in anticipation of sports wagering becoming legal in Massachusetts. This includes identifying over 200 potential regulations, adopting a framework to utilize industry-recognized technical standards, establishing an infrastructure to investigate and license applicants, initiating the hiring of a Chief of Sports Wagering and scheduling public meetings,’ Gaming Commission Executive Director Karen Wells said Wednesday. ‘Now that we have a law that defines our responsibilities as regulator, we will work with our stakeholders to swiftly stand up this new industry with a focus on integrity, player safety and consumer protection.’

“The Gaming Commission meets Thursday morning and the agenda calls for an update from Wells on the implementation of sports betting.

“Commission Chairwoman Cathy Judd-Stein said last week that the commission wants to hold ‘at the first available date’ a roundtable discussion with its existing licensees – Encore Boston Harbor, MGM Springfield, and Plainridge Park Casino and simulcast centers Raynham Park and Suffolk Downs – to get more detail on their plans for sports betting operations and to get their input as the commission sets out to write the rules for legal sports betting.”

What the heck was the Gaming Commission doing while this bill was bandied about? You mean they couldn’t have anticipated the needs of the casinos? They couldn’t have asked them questions?

MGM Springfield’s President and COO Chris Kelley said in a statement, “We are thrilled the state Legislature reached an agreement to create a safe, regulated and legalized sports betting environment for Bay State residents and look forward to Gov. [Charlie] Baker signing the bill. This new industry will allow Massachusetts to repatriate the revenue and jobs currently being lost to neighboring states and the illegal betting market. We look forward to providing local sports fans an immersive, world-class sports watching and betting experience in our sports lounge along with a VIP viewing area within TAP Sports Bar.”

MGM has been ready and waiting with its sports betting area.

This isn’t rocket science. MGM knows all about sports gaming because of its experience in other states.
Why is it in the Bay State we have to move at the speed of a glacier and pretend that we have to invent the wheel when others have already invented the wheel?

I will never place a sports bet in my life. I don’t follow sports. I only care about the revenue we are giving to other states by our pace of governance.

The Super Bowl of local politics

As you read this I’ve just attended this year’s picnic hosted by Hampden County Sheriff Nick Cocchi. It is the premier political event in the region and I’m hoping I will get to see the most elusive of creatures there: eastern Massachusetts candidates for a statewide office that so far have steered clear of campaigning here. Only Chris Doughty, a Republican for governor, has taken the time to appear here more than once.

Attorney General Maura Healey signaled she will make an appearance here to play basketball in Holyoke the day of the picnic. Perhaps she will talk to the press while she is here.
I have expressed dismay that so few candidates have come out here to the hinterlands during this election cycle and I do thank those who have actually decided the four western counties are indeed part of the commonwealth.