Sports betting launches in Mass. at MGM Springfield, Encore Boston Harbor

The Philadelphia Eagles to win the Super Bowl, Boston Celtics to win the NBA Finals, Boston Bruins to win the Stanley Cup, and the Kansas City Chiefs to win the Super Bowl.

Those were some of the first legal in-person bets placed on sporting events inside Massachusetts casinos Tuesday morning as the state’s brand new sports wagering industry took its initial baby steps.

The launch of sports betting has been hailed by supporters as a way to bring an illegal betting industry into the legal market and offer a new, modest source of revenue for the state. It is now a sprint to get ready for the large crowds casino officials said they expect for the Feb. 12 Super Bowl, when each sports betting lounge will be put to the test.

Regulators with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission worked up until the last minute to allow for Tuesday’s launch, approving certificates of operations — the documents that allow sports wagering licensees to facilitate bets — Monday afternoon for Encore Boston Harbor, MGM Springfield and Plainridge Park Casino.

Gaming Commission Chair Cathy Judd-Stein, whose agency has, at some points, faced criticism for the pace of its regulatory work, said “we had our eyes on this targeted deadline, and we made it.”

“We’ve been committed to meeting the Legislature’s expectations and vision as we’ve worked to stand up this new industry, presenting a product for all of you bettors that we think will be really exciting, engaging and fun,” she said in Springfield. “But we’ve done so while prioritizing its integrity, consumer protection and responsible play. And we also have prioritized through our assessment, diversity, equity and inclusion, and community engagement.”

As the clock counted down to 10 a.m., fanfare erupted at both Encore and MGM Springfield, where Las Vegas executives, state lawmakers, and Springfield and Boston officials lined up at wickets to hand over cash for the first series of in-person wagers. Plainridge Park Casino planned to launch its temporary sports betting lounge at 1 p.m. on Tuesday.

A potpourri of sports legends was on hand for the day — Boston Bruins’ Ray Bourque and Shawn Thornton and New England Patriots’ Ty Law and Rob Ninkovich, to name a few. Most made bets, with Bourque putting money on his former team.

“I’m rolling with the Bruins,” he said as he handed over money to a teller at MGM Springfield.

At Encore, House Speaker Ronald Mariano, who put $50 on both the Celtics and Bruins to win it all, said Gaming Commission regulators were “very slow and methodical” in setting up the sports betting industry.

“They wanted to get it right,” Mariano said. “They had plenty of examples of other states to use, so I really think they could have gone a little faster. But obviously, they erred on the side of caution and took the time and wanted to make sure that there were no, no major mistakes. So you can’t fault them for that.”

Former Sen. Eric Lesser, who led final negotiations on what would later become the state’s sports betting law, said the launch of wagering is a “long time coming” after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for the practice more than four years ago.

“One of the unique issues that we always faced in Springfield is we have a competition with Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, and of course, we’re not very far from New York either,” Lesser told MassLive. “The issue was always that we had our surrounding states, our bordering states, moving much faster than us. This catches us up. I think, ultimately, our law is better, and the ultimate result is going to be stronger.”

Some everyday bettors who were at the casinos Tuesday also had interstate competition on their minds.

“I think it’s gonna relieve the competition,” said Matilda Bonfardeci of Revere, who was at Encore and took the money line on the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. “They’re not going to be competing with going over the state line, and, you know, people are going to be happy to have it here in Massachusetts.”

At MGM Springfield, Mayor Domenic Sarno compared the launch of sports betting to a hat trick.

“It’s good for MGM. The spin-off effects can be very, very good for the city of Springfield, and it’s good for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,” he said.

At the state level, tax revenue expectations for sports betting have ranged from $30 to $65 million, a fraction of Massachusetts’ typical state budget, which has run north of $40 billion in recent years.

State Rep. Jerald Parisella, a Beverly Democrat who also led the sports betting charge in the state Legislature, said more than 30% of bets last year in New Hampshire were from Massachusetts residents on the Super Bowl.

“Now we have a better product here in Massachusetts, our tax rate is lower, we have better odds for the bettors, so we’re going to bring those people from New Hampshire and Rhode Island up to Massachusetts to bet on the Super Bowl,” he said in Boston.

Former Gov. Charlie Baker, who now heads up the NCAA, consistently wrote an expected $35 million in tax revenue into several of his state budgets.

In an interview last week, Judd-Stein said there is no “crystal ball” for financial expectations.

“We have not made any kind of public statements about what we expect with respect to revenues over time,” she said. “We certainly assess the economic impact that each applicant might have on, that would maximize the benefit for the Commonwealth.”