Event Details - The Future of Regulated Sports Gambling in New England

Location: The Rich Room at the University of New Hampshire School of Law

Sponsor: The Sports and Entertainment Law Institute and the Sports Wagering and Integrity Certificate Program

Last May, the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Murphy v. NCAA overturned the federal ban on state-authorized sports betting on constitutional grounds. In the aftermath of that historic decision, at least eight states have enacted sports betting legal regimes. Rhode Island was one of those states. With this year’s state legislative sessions now underway, a number of other states in the New England area — including Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut and Vermont— are expected to consider the possibility of legalizing sports betting.

This unique Town Hall program will bring together the key policymakers of those states, as well as several of the important industry stakeholders, including gaming companies and the sports leagues, to discuss the possibilities for sports betting in New England and to examine the key policy issues that are now being debated. 

Topics that will be addressed include:

• whether and to what extent mobile betting will be permitted
• should a mobile betting license to be tethered to a land-based casino property
• should stand-alone betting shops be allowed?
• should local municipalities be able to decide whether to allow sports betting establishments in their cities and towns?
• which state agencies should be tasked with regulating sports wagering?
• the growing influence of state lotteries and whether and to what extent such agencies should regulate, or, perhaps, even operate sports betting
• the regulatory structure, tax rate and licensing regime that will govern sports betting
• how should the tax revenues from sports betting be allocated for the benefit of the public?
• what types of responsible gaming safeguards should be instituted?
• how can state legislation and related regulations ensure that the integrity of the underlying sporting events are not compromised by the increase in betting activity?
• should the states require betting operators to share anonymized betting data in real-time with regulators, the sports leagues or other third parties?
• whether the sports leagues should receive a royalty or other forms of compensation from betting operators
• whether betting operators should be required to use the leagues’ official data feeds to determine the outcomes of in-game wagers.