New Massachusetts Rules Concerning Betting Limits Take Effect - But There Is A Loophole

By Bill Speros

May 29th, 2026 3:21 PM EDT

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Starting Monday, Massachusetts gaming regulators will require sportsbooks to disclose when, why, and how they limit customer accounts. These first-in-the-nation Massachusetts Betting Limit Rules could set a standard for transparency and fairness in sports betting, but some betting patrons may have already fallen through a loophole.

Officials at the Massachusetts Gaming Commission and each licensed sports betting operator in the Commonwealth have been working on the exact wording of what the books will have to tell customers.

“The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is proud to be the first regulator to address the issue of sportsbook limits to provide transparency to Massachusetts patrons. The Commission did not prescribe specific language but did direct operators to be specific in terms of the reason for the limit. Compliance with this first-in-class regulation will be monitored and its impact evaluated, including the potential for modifications in the future," Thomas Mills, MGC Spokesperson, told Bookies.com.

Operators limit customers for a variety of reasons. Among bettors, a common refrain "Banned or Bankrupt" echoes a belief that sportsbooks routinely limit sharp players and others who win more often than they lose. Operators dispute that characterization, saying limits are also imposed for risk management, suspected rule violations, and responsible gaming concerns.

In formulating the new Massachusetts Betting Limit Rules, regulators balanced consumer protection concerns against the potential impact on sportsbooks. Those operators face competition from offshore and illegal betting markets. The rise of prediction market platforms such as Kalshi, Robinhood, and Polymarket U.S. further crowds the ecosystem.

The new regulation (205 CMR 238.30) enacted Feb. 26 requires legal sports betting operators in the Bay State to give players who have been limited “timely notice” - 48 hours - explain why they are limited, and inform them from which markets they have been limited. It mandates that players currently and previously limited in Massachusetts receive a notice, as well as those limited after June 1.

Sports wagering operators are required to have “procedures to provide timely notice to a patron that their wagering activity has been limited, including a specific explanation for the attachment of the limit(s) and identification as to which market(s) are so limited. - 205 CMR 238.30: Acceptance of Sports Wagers (Amended)

New Rule Has No Requirement For Closed Accounts

However, this new rule leaves offers a loophole concerning patrons with closed accounts. Operators remain free to close accounts for any reason without offering any explanation as to why.

Several patrons of Caesars Sportsbook in Massachusetts saw their accounts with Caesars abruptly closed in the past two weeks without notice. Caesars termed the move as a "business decision" in emails posted on social media and shared with Bookies.com.

Another operator in the Commonwealth told Bookies.com that such a move would be "crazy."

Bookies.com sought comment from a Caesars representative Friday morning but had yet to receive a response by mid-afternoon.

One patron told Bookies.com that he usually wagers between between $100 and $1000 on any given day. Some books in Massachusetts have limited him, but not all. A Caesars' rep told him that his futures wagers will remain active after the book initially voided them.

Regulators Weigh Concerns Of Public, Sportsbooks

Commissioners Eileen O'Brien and Nakisha Skinner said in February they expect more detailed information on the reasons behind patron limits if customers continue to complain.

"We'll know pretty quickly who is making that good-faith effort toward the transparency goal," added Commissioner Paul Brodeur.

Across Massachusetts and elsewhere, legal online sportsbook patrons have seen their wagers cut to zero, or close to it. But often - if not always - only after winning.

News of the new regulations was first reported by bookies.com back in December, prior to their initial approval.

The MGC first met in on Sept. 30, 2025 - mostly in executive session - to first discuss player limits.

“What we’ve been hearing from members of the public is that if you show a tendency to win, you will be limited. And if you show a tendency to lose, you will have that limit raised,” said MGC Sports Wagering Division Chief Carrie Torrisi during the public portion of that meeting.

MGC Hears Input From Betting Public, Sportsbooks

During the public comment period, the MGC heard from multiple patrons voicing concern about the perceived unfairness of limiting practices.

One public comment, made by Frank Giordano, reflected the feelings of many bettors on this issue:

"The outrageously low limits imposed by sportsbook operators are both punitive and discriminatory. To allow a customer to deposit hundreds of thousands of dollars into their wagering account and then limit them to only 60 cents per game should absolutely be considered illegal. A fair limit would be $50 per wager on each category. The sportsbooks would still earn enormous profits. The unfair rules imposed by these trillionaire corporations are not beneficial to the hardworking taxpayers of Massachusetts."

The Commission received an additional written comments from FanDuel, BetMGM, and Caesars.

FanDuel expressed general support for the Commission’s decision to allow flexibility in the
method and content of customer notifications. BetMGM submitted questions seeking
interpretive guidance and requested the opportunity to discuss the implementation timeline. Caesars identified specific challenges related to its interpretation of the reporting obligation
and presented three alternative approaches for the Commission’s consideration.

The operators offered their side of this issue during a public meeting on Sept. 11, 2024.

“To effectively manage risk, we limit a small minority of patrons that we consider to be advantaged players who attempt to take advantage or find ways around our risk management framework. This group of limited patrons, many of whom self-identify as professional bettors, is loud in insisting that limiting patrons is a pervasive practice by operators. However, this is not accurate; it is actually the opposite,” BetMGM senior director of compliance Sarah Brennan told the MGC.

Operators typically do not notify players when they issue limits. Nor do they explain the reasons for the restrictions, which commissioners view as an issue of "fundamental fairness."

This lack of transparency in limiting policies became a significant consumer protection concern issue for the MGC.

Commissioners could well push for tighter internal controls and more detailed notification to patrons in the future.

‘Sportsbooks Systematically Restrict Successful Bettors’

American Bettors’ Voice Board Member Adam Robinson, who assisted the MGC in formulating the new rules, told Bookies.com that this has been a long-standing issue with bettors.

“Regulated sportsbooks systematically restrict successful bettors while increasing limits for losing players, often identifying the latter for VIP programs. This ‘ban-or-bankrupt’ approach is fundamentally unfair to consumers," he said.

Robinson stressed the importance of the difference between sharp bettors and those who simply pounce on mistakes.

“Sharp, lawful betting activity that fully complies with an operator’s published terms and conditions, and exploitative advantage play that seeks to capitalize on palpable errors or obvious mispriced lines. These are not the same behaviors, and they should not be treated the same from a regulatory or consumer-protection standpoint. Any gaming regulator examining stakeholder factoring practices must clearly understand and preserve this distinction,” he said

Study Found More Than 13,000 Accounts Limited

The MGC studied regulated operators to determine the number of limited players. It found operators limited 0.64% of the 2.1 million online wagering accounts in the state (or approximately 13,400). Operators gave no reasons for the limitations. Patrons claim their limits came following big wins or multiple successful parlay plays. Books say they have also limited some players due to concerns over problem gambling.

The Commonwealth first approached after receiving multiple complaints from sportsbook customers. The customers claimed regulated sportsbooks limited them because they won.  

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