Now I know what I want to be when I grow up.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is hiring a “Chief of the Sports Wagering Division.”
Didn’t know state agencies were allowed to use the word “chief” in official job descriptions. The possibilities for the PR headshot are endless. This could be a dream job for someone like me who has pined for legal betting in the Bay State since they shaved those points at Boston College.
The salary range is $95,701 to $143,610. That should cover rent for an 833-square-foot, one-bedroom on Broadway in Everett near Encore Boston Harbor, in addition to the impending Uber surge charge now the Orange Line has shuttered for 30 days.
When it comes to Mass. transit, Orange is the new blech.
The lucky hire will be “responsible for implementing and regulating sports wagering” in addition to overseeing “all administrative and operational functions of the Sports Wagering Division.”
Among the qualifications:
- Strong leadership and organizational skills
- 5-10 years of experience in public administration, gaming, or a related field
- At least 5 years of leadership or supervisory experience
- Sports Wagering, Gaming, IT and/or Legal experience a plus.
Experience in “Sports Wagering” is merely a “plus” when it comes to hiring Chief of the Sports Wagering Division.
There goes my candidacy.
One might think it would be essential.
Nope. Try getting a Doctorate in Bureaucracy 101 instead.
Those wishing to decipher when those over 21 will be able to legally wager on sports within the borders of Massachusetts should summon the spirit of Alan Turing. The Enigma code had nothing on MGC rules, policies and procedures.
“I didn’t think this could be more painful than the COVID roundtables that we had but somehow this feels even harder than those conversations,” Commissioner Eileen O’Brien confessed at the 4-hour, 21-minute mark of Thursday’s MGC meeting.
We feel her pain.
The gestation of sports betting from conception to birth will require about 200-225 new rules and/or regulations. The timetable required to manifest these regulations into existence (save for emergency situations) is “no fewer than 90 days,” according to MGC Chair Cathy Judd-Stein.
“Patience” has become the word of the year at the MCG. That just happens to be the least common virtue when it comes to those who gamble legally or otherwise.
A caller himself Kevin unmuted himself while listening on the live phone feed Thursday and spoke for many:
“You people have no idea what you’re talking about,” Kevin said.
Nonplussed, Judd-Stein asked Kevin for his full name and invited him to speak, but his phone wasn’t ready for prime time.
Representatives from Encore Boston Harbor, MGM Springfield, Plainridge Park Casino, Suffolk Downs and Raynham Park appeared. The new sports betting law allows all five to operate retail and mobile betting outlets.
The takeaway: All operators want the state to set a firm launch date for retail sports betting so they can prepare accordingly. Just saved you 263 minutes.
Aside from Kevin, the entire affair had the angst, pace and rhythm of a ninth-grade dance. Neither side wanted to make the first move. And no one went home satisfied.
Massachusetts became the 31st state (plus Washington, D.C.) with legal sports betting once Gov. Baker signed the “Massachusetts Sports Wagering Act” on Aug. 10. Four of the five states that border Massachusetts have live and legal mobile sports betting. Vermont has cows.
Talk of betting by the start of the 2022 football season was quickly snuffed out by Commission members when they met a day after the law’s enactment.
No one has said anything about the 2023 football season.
Yet.
Bill Speros (@RealOBF) is also a Senior Betting Analyst for GDC Group/Bookies.Com. He can be reached at bsperos1@gmail.com.
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