Penn Entertainment’s Barstool Sportsbook suspended its “Can’t Lose Parlay”promotion after questions were raised regarding whether the terminology violated state sport betting regulations.
According to Massachusetts Gaming Commission Investigation and Enforcement Bureau director Loretta Lillios Penn suspended the promotion in Massachusetts and all US jurisdictions.
Penn is currently promoting no Can’t Lose bets. Lillios added that Penn had proactively reached out to her over the weekend in order to discuss the promotion. The meeting was attended by Chris Soriano , Penn Chief Compliance Officer. However, the MGC didn’t hear any testimony from him as it was not about evaluating the merits of the claim. It was about determining the next steps for how the MGC would assess the incident.
Lillios discussed which MGC regulations could have been violated by promotion. She also mentioned the recent appearance before the commission of members from the Attorney General’s Office to discuss how sportsbooks must be in compliance to the Massachusetts Consumer Protections Act and its mandates regarding false advertising.
MGC General Counsel Todd Grossman told the MGC commissioners that they had three options.
- A similar adjudicatory hearing will be held as the one that was held this week over retail betting violations
- The IEB makes a recommendation about how to deal with the situation. This is something that the MGC can adopt or reject.
- Penn could request a hearing by requesting that the MGC issue an intent for Penn to receive a civil administrative sanction.
The commissioners decided that a hearing was the best option, given the way other operators have handled transgressions so far.
Commissioner Eileen O’Brien asked Lillios whether there was additional information IEB had to give the commissioners. Lillios stated that it was a matter limited to the language used in a “can’t lose” wager, but offered any additional context such as the interface for the betting app if requested.
Barstool Sportsbook isn’t the only one that could have violated state marketing rules. O’Brien brought to the attention of the IEB a matter in which FanDuel may have used prohibited terminology such as “risk-free” or “free bet” in commercials that were shown on Hulu.
