Legalized Sports Gambling Coming To MA? Door Now Open

BOSTON, MA — As the birthplace of online daily fantasy sports games, it seems to be a matter of not if, but when Massachusetts will allow sports betting. After a landmark moment in American sports history Monday morning, it's the question everyone is asking.

The Supreme Court ruled, 7-2, to overturn the federal ban on sports gambling. The decision allows individuals states to decide whether to allow sports gambling.

Massachusetts would still need to pass a law allowing sports betting. But with an MGM opening this summer in Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor expected to open next year in Everett, you can count on there being a strong push toward passing such a law.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission estimated legalized sports betting could generate between $9 million and $61 million in state tax revenue a year.

The ruling came as the Joint Committee on Economic Development is reviewing a bill (S 2273) that would make daily fantasy sports explicitly legal and create an eight-person special commission to "conduct a comprehensive study and offer proposed legislation relative to the regulation of online sports betting" if the Supreme Court deems any part of federal sports betting ban is unconstitutional.

Beacon Hill is also considering a request from the Massachusetts Lottery, which has faced declining profits, to offer its products online. The Supreme Court ruling also comes amid a years-long effort to erect resort casinos authorized under a 2011 state law.

Soon after the Supreme Court's ruling came down Monday morning, Boston-based daily fantasy sports provider DraftKings announced that it will enter the sports betting market, saying the "addition of online and mobile sports betting holds the potential to generate billions of dollars annually for cash-strapped state governments."

Everyone is already asking how quickly states will be able to get in on what will surely be sports betting fever.

The America Gambling Association called the decision a "victory for the millions of Americans who seek to bet on sports in a safe and regulated manner."

The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act was passed in 1992. Only Nevada remained allowed to bet on the results of single games.

The court made the decision on a case brought forth by the state of New Jersey, which had long fought for the right to offer sports gambling.

(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

State House News Service contributed to this report