The Massachusetts Gaming Commission expressed skepticism regarding the reported frequency of underage gambling on sportsbook platforms during a meeting held on Monday.
Representatives from leading sportsbook operators, including Caesars Sportsbook, DraftKings, Penn Sports Interactive, and WynnBet, presented their third-quarter reports to the Commission recently. During the presentation, regulators questioned the accuracy of the single-digit instances of illegal gambling depicted in the reports, Boston Herald reported.
Caesars Sportsbook and WynnBet asserted that they had identified and suspended zero accounts for underage betting from July through September. DraftKings reported one instance of account suspension in July and four in August, down from six in the previous quarter. Penn Sports Interactive reported three underage use suspensions, a decrease from five and six in the preceding quarters.
However, the Commission questioned the accuracy of these figures, considering the findings of a National Collegiate Athletics Association survey conducted earlier this year. The survey, which targeted 18 to 22-year-olds, revealed that more than half of the 3,527 underage respondents admitted to participating in sports wagering, despite state laws and corporate terms and conditions prohibiting such activities. The majority of sports wagering, according to the survey, takes place in the Northeast.
Commissioner Brad Hill acknowledged that there is a concern with underage bettors.
“There is some concern that there are individuals who are underaged using computers and passwords of who are of age to bet. We’re being told that it is happening,” Hill was quoted as saying in the report.
Commissioner Jordan Maynard provided a more straightforward assessment of the figures presented to regulators. “I’m just going to be honest: I don’t believe that the number is zero or single digits,” Maynard said. “Take a look at the NCAA survey, you’ll see that (underage gambling) is definitely happening, and it’s happening in high numbers.”
Curtis Lane Jr., speaking on behalf of Caesars Sportsbook, clarified that accounts displaying abnormal behavior, like betting from unfamiliar IP addresses, undergo scrutiny for fraud and unauthorized use, leading to suspensions as necessary. However, he acknowledged the technological challenge of preventing a teenager from logging into a computer and accessing a registered Caesars account.
“From my understanding, there is nothing concrete that would definitively identify that. We would have to just do a series of analysis and various testing to determine if that is the case, but at the current stage there is nothing to definitively define if anyone is underage and, you know, using an account,” he said.