Commission urges Massachusetts to hold off online poker, casino legalization … for now

Massachusetts should legalize daily fantasy sports but hold off on legalizing online poker and casino gambling, according to the recommendations of a special commission.

On Tuesday, State House New Service reported that the Special Commission on Online Gaming, Fantasy Sports Gaming and Daily Fantasy Sports had submitted a draft report to the legislature, which had tasked the Commission with determining how the state should handle the potential expansion of legal online gaming.

The report recommends “legalizing DFS as a subset of online gaming and enacting legislation that would put into law the proposed regulatory, governance and taxation system” needed to oversee DFS activity.

However, the report doesn’t recommend legalizing “more expansive online gaming at present,” dashing the hopes of the state’s online poker and casino fans. The report claims the state should wait until the two in-development resort casinos – MGM Springfield and Wynn Boston Harbor – open to the public so that their impact can be judged.