If you want to legally bet on whether or not Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce will propose to Taylor Swift at the conclusion of Sunday’s Super Bowl, you’ll have to place your bet in a state other than Massachusetts.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission concluded at its Wednesday meeting that novelty prop bets on Super Bowl LVIII will not be allowed since they have nothing to do with sports betting.
Commissioners Eileen O’Brien, Nakisha Skinner, and Cathy Judd-Stein voted against a motion to allow bets on the coin toss at Sunday’s Super Bowl, while commissioners Brad Hill and Jordan Maynard supported it; the result was two votes in favor and three votes against.
The discussion took place because FanDuel contacted the Gaming Commission last week asking for clarification as to whether the Commonwealth allows certain prop bets. Those types of bets included the following, according to Sports Betting Dime:
Coin toss result
Coin toss winner
Team to receive opening kickoff
Coin toss winner wins game
To win coin toss and win game
Coin toss to be re-taken
Coin toss call result
Gatorade color over coach
National Anthem length
FanDuel never filed a petition asking the Gaming Commission to add these bets to the catalog. It merely wanted clarification about the state’s current law.
Hill made a motion to allow bets on the coin toss result, coin toss winner, and which team received the opening kickoff, despite no petition from a sportsbook.
“The coin toss, you’re flipping it in the air, there’s no way of knowing [ahead of time] what the results are going to be,” Hill said during the commission’s February 1 meeting.
O’Brien opposed allowing prop bets out of concern that they could be rigged.
“These are things that don’t really fall within things you can control and have parameters and oversight,” O’Brien said during the February 1 meeting. “The human element of control and fixing here is so strong, I just don’t feel comfortable that any of these are appropriate.”
Sports betting has been legal in Massachusetts since January 2023; mobile sports betting launched two months later.
New to NewBostonPost? Conservative media is hard to find in Massachusetts. But you’ve found it. Now dip your toe in the water for two bucks — $2 for two months. And join the real revolution.
