- The commission will hear briefings Thursday on Fanatics referral bonuses, BetMGM out-of-state wagers, Fanatics limit notices and FanDuel proxy wagering.
- Commissioners will vote on three penalties over bets on unauthorized or unapproved offerings, two for Caesars Sportsbook and one for MGM Springfield.
- Missouri fined three casinos $2,500 each Oct. 28 over yellow- and red-card bets, while Massachusetts event catalog penalties for 2026 ran $5,000 to $25,000.
- The commission will also vote on final adoption of 205 CMR 255, the play management rules that govern bettor-set account limits.
BOSTON – The Massachusetts Gaming Commission will hear four sportsbook noncompliance briefings and vote on three civil penalties Thursday, according to an agenda posted Nov. 3. The Massachusetts sportsbook enforcement docket names Fanatics, BetMGM, FanDuel, Caesars Sportsbook and MGM Springfield.
The meeting, No. 601, starts at 10 a.m. by remote access and streams at massgaming.com, the notice says. Fanatics, BetMGM and FanDuel are listed as Category 3 sports wagering operators, and enforcement counsel from the Investigations and Enforcement Bureau will brief commissioners on each matter and discuss next steps. Online Massachusetts sports betting has run under commission licenses since March 10, 2023.
None of the four briefings concerns the event catalog, the category behind all 13 sports wagering penalties on the commission’s 2026 enforcement table, which was last updated Aug. 24. The agenda frames each item as alleged noncompliance.
What The Four Briefings Allege
Fanatics is accused of permitting patrons to generate and access “refer a friend” bonuses, which the agenda says violates 205 CMR 247.09(4), part of the promotional offers rule.
BetMGM is accused of accepting wagers from people not physically located in Massachusetts, citing G.L. c. 23N, § 13(b), 205 CMR 243.01 and 205 CMR 247.07(6).
Fanatics faces a second briefing over an alleged failure to notify patrons whose wagering was limited, citing 205 CMR 238.30(11) and 205 CMR 232.02(1)(c). The commission adopted the Massachusetts sportsbook limits requirement 5-0 on Feb. 26, and notices stating the reason for a restriction and the affected markets were due starting June 1.
FanDuel is accused of impermissible proxy wagering, citing G.L. c. 23N, § 11(a) and 205 CMR 248.17. The agenda does not name the account holder or say whether the item relates to podcaster Bill Simmons, who said on his Aug. 30 podcast that his daughter’s boyfriend placed bets through his FanDuel account. The commission said in a Sept. 1 statement that staff were reviewing the matter, NBC News reported, and FanDuel told NBC News it reported the matter to the commission and voided the bets.
Penalty Votes
The three penalty items ask commissioners to review the bureau’s recommendation under 205 CMR 232.02(2). Two involve Caesars Sportsbook: wagers on an unauthorized event, and wagers on an unauthorized event involving a Massachusetts collegiate team. The third involves wagers on an unapproved offering by MGM Springfield.
Under G.L. c. 23N, § 3, a collegiate event involving a Massachusetts team falls outside the definition of a sporting event unless the team plays in a collegiate tournament, defined as a series of events involving four or more teams.
The enforcement table shows one 2026 entry for each operator: a $25,000 penalty for MGM Springfield dated June 22, the largest of the 13, and a $10,000 penalty for Caesars Sportsbook dated March 12. The 13 entries run from $5,000 to $25,000.
Missouri Comparison
In Missouri, where casinos hold retail licenses for legal sports betting, the Gaming Commission approved three settlements Oct. 28 with River City Casino, Hollywood Casino St. Louis and Argosy Riverside Casino. Each casino agreed to a $2,500 fine for accepting retail wagers on yellow and red cards in soccer, which Missouri’s catalog of approved events prohibits, according to the resolutions.
Hollywood Casino St. Louis accepted 495 such wagers totaling $17,657.53 from Feb. 12 to June 22, the settlement says. River City Casino accepted 11 totaling $89.62, and Argosy Riverside Casino accepted 10 totaling $141.67. The fine was the same at each, and it is half the lowest penalty on the Massachusetts table for 2026.
Massachusetts bars the same markets. A Dec. 15, 2023 email from its sports wagering division told operators to stop offering officiating-related markets such as yellow or red cards in soccer, the commission’s BetMGM decision says, and the commission fined BetMGM $60,000 in December 2025 over six matters that included 2,564 soccer penalty card wagers.
Play Management Vote
The commission will also consider final adoption of 205 CMR 255, which sets requirements for sports wagering play management, the account tools that let bettors set limits on their own wagering. The proposed amendments, set for public comment at an Oct. 20 hearing, correct section titles, change the notification requirement in 205 CMR 255.03(2) to monthly or every 30 days and replace “business day” with “day” in 205 CMR 255.03(5), according to the commission’s hearing notice. The agenda lists the item for a vote.
