Posted on: March 13, 2026, 08:16h.
Last updated on: March 13, 2026, 08:16h.
- Legislation in Massachusetts would limit how much sports bettors could bet
- The limit could be lifted if the bettor agrees to an affordability check
- Massachusetts bettors lost $865 million betting last year
Massachusetts lawmakers are considering legislation that would place a series of consumer protection guardrails on the sports betting industry.
Senate Bill 302, the Bettor Health Act, was unanimously passed by the Senate Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies last week. The bill is expected to be reviewed in the Senate Committee on Ways and Means when it next meets, though no date has been set.
The Bettor Health Act comes from Sen. John Keenan (D-Quincy). The bill proposes a sweeping overhaul of the commonwealth’s sports betting regulations, most notably limiting sports bettors to $1,000 in wagers per 24-hour period or $10,000 per 30 days. To bet more than those thresholds, a bettor would need to agree to an affordability assessment.
Many of the provisions in SB302 mimic the federal SAFE Bet Act, failed legislation in Congress that sought to harness the country’s piecemealed sports betting markets.
How Would Affordability Assessment Work?
Keenan suggests that Massachusetts’ sportsbooks do more to ensure that consumers aren’t becoming addicted to their products and gambling more than they can afford to lose.
Keenan wants to limit sports bettors unless they undergo an affordability check. SB302 details that the assessment would need to determine that “the daily or monthly amounts wagered do not exceed 15% of the amount of said person has available in a bank account.” Massachusetts has the highest median household income in the country at $100,000.
The Bettor Health Act would also prohibit sportsbooks from advertising during sports events televised by broadcasts regulated by the Federal Communications Commission. That would exclude most sports on cable and streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Peacock.
The bill additionally seeks to ban in-play and proposition bets, wagers that have been linked to player harassment on the professional and collegiate level and have been associated with match- and game-fixing.
Reining in ‘Unleashed’ Industry
Along with the consumer protections, SB302 would greatly increase the state’s tax on gross sports betting revenue from 20% to 51%. The statute would also require sportsbooks to share annual reports with the commonwealth detailing anonymized player data.
Keenan says the Bettor Health Act would rein in an “unleashed” industry.
We unleashed an industry that now promotes betting on anything and everything imaginable and unimaginable 24 hours a day, every single day,” Keenan said.
“I want to publicly apologize to those who’ve lost the opportunity to sit and watch a game just for the enjoyment of the game, to those who find themselves in the dark spaces of betting addiction, and to those working through recovery, and to their families and friends. I want to apologize to those who have lost loved ones to suicide because of gambling issues,” the Senator said.
Keenan voted in favor of the bill passed in 2022 that authorized sports betting in the commonwealth.
People in Massachusetts bet a record $8.5 billion on sports last year through lawful means. Sportsbooks kept $865 million of the wagers, generating state tax revenue of $151.7 million.
