FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 2019 The Boston Globe The Region A
as a cautionary tale, receiving
just $2.2 million in tax revenue
from sports bets last fiscal year
after expecting more than $
million.
Lawmakers said they are al-
so grappling with the nuts and
bolts of legislation that would
aim to protect the integrity of
sports, shield consumers from
predatory companies, and close
down black-market bookies.
They are debating whether to
allow betting on college athlet-
ics as well as professional
leagues, how to tax bets to max-
imize revenues, and whether to
restrict sports betting to casi-
nos or allow bets online or
through the lottery.
“There’s no commitment to
put a bill forward until we’re
confident we can resolve all the
issues,” said Representative
Ann-Margaret Ferrante, the co-
chairwoman of the committee
examining the issue.
State Senator Eric P. Lesser,
Ferrante’s counterpart on the
committee, offered a laundry
list of questions that need to be
addressed before they can craft
a sports betting bill.
“I certainly appreciate the
interest this is generating,” the
Longmeadow Democrat said of
legalization. “Butifa bill moves
forward, it needs to be carefully
crafted.”
A Supreme Court decision in
May 2018 opened the door for
all states to legalize betting on
sports. The state’s three casinos
— MGM Springfield, Plainridge
Park Casino, and Encore Bos-
ton Harbor — along with daily
fantasy sports and online bet-
ting giant DraftKings all back
legalizing sports betting at casi-
nos and online.
Gamblinginterests say a
broad sports betting law that
allows people to bet on games
at casinos and online will not
only bring in direct tax reve-
nue, but boost business at casi-
nos and in the technology in-
dustry.
“An open, competitive legal
mobile sports betting market
that permits real competition
among experienced operators
uBETTING
Continued from Page A
is the best way to stamp out the
illegal market, protect consum-
ers, generate tax revenue, and
continue job growth for the
benefit of all Massachusetts res-
idents,” Boston-based DraftK-
ings chief executive Jason Rob-
ins said in testimony to the Leg-
islature in May.
Michael Mathis, the presi-
dent of MGM Springfield,
which is just minutes from
Connecticut, said this month
that sports gambling would be
important to the casino’s busi-
ness and “it’s a bit of a race with
some of the surrounding juris-
dictions.”
In some of MGM’s other
markets, “we’ve seen as much
as a 10 percent increase to the
rest of the business” when
sports betting has been legal-
ized, with patrons staying lon-
ger and going to restaurants, he
said.
Those arguments have not
lit a fire on Beacon Hill, where,
over a year after the Supreme
Court decision, lawmakers are
still working through the com-plexities of legal sports betting.
Ferrante and Lesser de-
clined to put a timeline on
when a bill might come out of
their committee, which could
begin the process of legislation
going to each chamber, and
eventually to Governor Charlie
Baker.
He supports legalization
and offered his own sports bet-
ting legislation in January. A
Baker spokeswoman, Sarah
Finlaw, said Baker offered a
proposal “to make Massachu-
setts competitive with other
states, and hopes to see the
Legislature take up a bill before
the end of the session.”
Lawmakers’ formal session
ends in July 2020, and even
sports gambling supporters
said priorities like transporta-
tion are far higher on their list
than whether someone can le-
gally bet on the Bruins and
Celtics this fall.
“Is it a policy priority for
me? No. Is it as important to
me as many other things? No,”
said Senator William N.Brownsberger of Belmont. “But
I’m prepared to support it.”
Ferrante, the cochair of the
Joint Committee on Economic
Development and Emerging
Technologies, rattled off the
revenue numbers from several
states that have legalized sportsbetting and focused on Rhode
Island. The state initially pro-
jected it would generate $23.
million in taxes from sports
gambling during the 2019 fiscal
year,but took a major hit from
the Patriots winning — and cov-
ering the spread — in the SuperBowl, and brought in a meager
$2.2 million. (Rhode Island es-
timates that sports betting will
bring it $23 million in taxes in
fiscal year 2020.)
Ferrantenoted the signifi-
cant upfront costs of creating a
sports betting infrastructure
and said “we want to make sure
that the bill put forward would
generate revenue and not re-
quire any subsidy from the
Commonwealth.”
The chairwoman also point-
ed to New Jersey, a national
success story, which brought in
$25 million in tax revenue from
sports betting from August
2018 through July. Massachu-
setts would likely have a small-
er market, she said.
There are politics at play,
too, in the State House, where
chamber leaders wield outsize
power. Neither Senate Presi-
dent Karen E. Spilka nor House
Speaker Robert A. DeLeo has
conveyed a sense of urgency for
legalizing sports betting.
DeLeo “conceptually” sup-
ports legalization, “but it re-quires the appropriate regula-
tory structure — and revenue
stream,” said his spokeswoman,
Catherine Williams.
A spokeswoman for Spilka,
who notably voted against casi-
no gambling when it passed in
2011, declined to comment
about the senator’s position on
legalizing sports betting.
And some progressives in
the Senate, which is seen as
more liberal than the House,
are already voicing concerns.
“It’s not like people aren’t al-
ready gambling on sports. But
when you legalize it, you invite
in big-money players whose
goal is truly to addict new peo-
ple,” said Senator Patricia D. Je-
hlen of Somerville. “I’m wor-
ried about expanding the num-
ber of problem gamblers and
about the ‘gamble-ization of
sports.’ ”
Senator James B. Eldridge of
Acton said he would vote
against legalizing sports bet-
ting.
“I just see it as another re-
gressive tax that, more likely
than not, falls on working fami-
lies,” he said. “It’s not a signifi-
cant amount of revenue and
therefore a distraction from
raising taxes on the wealthy or
closing tax loopholes for large
corporations.”
Gambling analysts encour-
age looking at the full sweep of
additional revenue sports bet-
ting might bring in, with cus-
tomers who might never other-
wise set foot in a casino betting
on the home team.
“It attracts a different demo-
graphic and creates the ability
to market to that demographic
and get them into the casino,”
said Michael Pollock, a special-
ist on sports betting at the
Spectrum Gaming Group con-
sultancy. “They will spend
money in multiple cash regis-
ters once there... nightclubs,
hotels, restaurants.”
Still, he said, it’s wise for any
legislature to be deliberate.
“Once that switch is flipped
and it’s legal,” he said, “you
can’t undo it.”Joshua Miller can be reached at
[email protected].off on some aspects while the
suit by Airbnb proceeded. Now,
though, hosts who have not reg-
istered by Dec. 1, or who are
not qualified to rent out units,
will be removed by Airbnb from
the company platform.
Mayor Martin J. Walsh said
he has sought “a fair balance
between preserving housing
and allowing Bostonians to
benefit from this new industry.”
City Councilor Michelle Wu,
who helped usher in the coun-
cil’s passage of the city ordi-
nance, praised the settlement.
“Boston has set an example
for city governments across the
country, who are empowered to
set their own reasonable regu-
lations,” she said.
In addition to investors and
absentee landlords, rental ten-
ants also will not be allowed to
rent out units for short periods.
Generally, only owners of indi-
vidual units or landlords with a
secondary unit in their own
two-or-three-unit building will
be allowed to list them for
short-term rental. The landlord
must occupy the dwelling for at
least nine months out of the
year.
Last year, Airbnb had about
6,300 listings in Boston, and
studies have suggested that
much of its business comes
from investors and absentee
landlords — the targets of the
city’s ordinance.
The explosion in popularity
of rental services such as Airb-
nb has put on a strain on the
housing stock in many cities
with very high real estate costs.
A University of Massachu-
setts Boston study in 2016
found a small but notable in-
crease in rent prices due to in-
creases in Airbnb listings, a
conclusion that was confirmed
by other national studies. As
Boston faces spiraling housing
costs, one of the city’s challeng-
es has been preserving the af-
fordable housing that already
exists.
New York, San Francisco,
and Los Angeles have sought to
restrict the type of units that
uAIRBNB
Continued from Page A
can be listed on such sites, and
passed regulations requiring
Airbnb to provide them with
more information on its hosts.
Separately, Massachusetts
passed a new state law that re-
quires short-term hosts to regis-
ter and pay taxes on their rent-
als. That law went into effect in
July.
Initially, Airbnb’s opposition
to the city law was based on
concerns that the company
would be forced to turn over
private information about its
users, but those concerns were
allayed under the agreement.
Beginning Sept. 1, Airbnb’s
website will include a function
allowing hosts to enter and dis-
play their required city registra-
tion number. All hosts of quali-
fied short-term rentals have un-
til Dec. 1 to obtain and display
the city registration number on
their listings.
“Our goal has always been to
work with the city to find a path
forward for home sharing in
Boston,” said Liz DeBold Fusco,
an Airbnb spokeswoman.
“With this settlement agree-
ment, that is what we have col-
lectively achieved, establishing
an effective regulatory frame-
work for compliance.”
Under the agreement, Airb-
nb agreed to essentially open its
vault for city inspection, and re-
move unqualified rentals. The
platform would still face a $
per unit fine for not complying.Airbnb will also inform us-
ers of the city’s new rental stan-
dards, and will provide month-
ly data reports to the city in-
cluding the users’ registration
number, listing information
and ZIP code. Those who do not
provide accurate or sufficient
information have 30 days to
comply, or will be removed by
Airbnb from its website.
City officials say the registra-
tion portal will also allow them
to monitor rentals for health
and code violations. Short-term
rental operators must notify an
abutter of a rental unit within
30 days of registering.
Dion Irish, Boston’s head of
inspectional services, said the
agreement strengthens the
city’s ordinance by making
Airbnb a partner. He hopes oth-
er industry platforms will fol-
low the company’s lead.
“They recognize that the
way to successfully do business
is to work with cities that aren’t
averse to short-term rentals,
but want to minimize the im-
pact they have on cities,” Irish
said. “The best way for them to
proceed is for them to work
along with the city.”
Last year, Airbnb company
settled a lawsuit against San
Francisco over steep fines the
company was liable for due to
unregistered hosts, agreeing to
collect host data and turn it
over to the city for enforcement.
The company’s listings therefell by roughly half when the
law took effect earlier this year,
according to the San Francisco
Chronicle. Airbnb has sued
NewYorkCityoveranewlaw
that is similar to Boston’s. That
case is pending.Tim Logan of the Globe staff
contributed to this report.
Milton J. Valencia can be
reached at milton.valencia@
globe.com. Follow him on
Twitter @miltonvalencia.Mass.lawmakerskeepsportsbettingonthesidelines
Airbnb accepts Boston’s rental limits
‘Isitapolicy
priorityforme?
No.Isitas
importanttome
asmanyother
things?No.’
SENATOR WILLIAM N.
BROWNSBERGERBARRY CHIN/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2019
Sports betting has been less lucrative than expected in Rhode Island, where tax revenue fell far short of expectations.SUZANNE KREITER/GLOBE STAFF/FILE 2017
Activists have targeted Airbnb, saying affordable housing in Boston is disappearing.DONATEYOURCAR
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