Need more revenue? Pass sports betting, online lottery sales
“Revenue can’t wait.” That was House Speaker Robert DeLeo’s justification for legislation he unveiled this week that would hike gas taxes and boost fees for ride-hailing services and costs to corporations. The state needs money, lots of it, and the House plan would net over a half a billion taxpayer dollars to fix the state’s transportation problems.
“When it comes to our transportation system … Revenue can’t wait any longer,” DeLeo said. “Our residents, our communities and our economy are dependent on an immediate source of revenue.”
Why then is the Legislature taking its sweet time to approve sports betting and getting our state lottery online?
In January of last year, Baker filed “An Act to Establish Sports Wagering in the Commonwealth” — which would allow sports wagering lounges at the three licensed casino operations in the commonwealth as well as permitting bettors within Massachusetts to place sports wagers from their phones and laptops.
The Baker administration estimated the bill would generate $35 million in tax revenues in Fiscal Year 2020. Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante, House chairwoman of the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, and the other committee members were “engaged in a thorough review of bills relating to sports betting,” a spokeswoman for House Speaker DeLeo said in a statement last year. “Speaker DeLeo looks forward to the results of that review in the year ahead.”
State Treasurer Deb Goldberg has already made the case for the state lottery to offer its games online.
“The world has changed with fantasy sports, sports betting, casinos and online lottery in neighboring states,” Goldberg said during her inaugural address. “We do not want to go the way of Sears or Toys R Us.”
Net Lottery profit for the 2018 fiscal year was $997 million. Imagine the revenue should the games go online.
One thing we don’t need to imagine is the revenue spike possible from sports betting. New Hampshire made it legal in January, and Gov. Chris Sununu noted that more than $15.8 million had been wagered in less than a month.
Of course we don’t expect sports betting or an online lottery to solve all the state’s money problems — there is just too much that needs to be covered — but why continue to leave so much potential funding on the table while launching plans for a hike in the gas tax?
Especially when such a tax has such a sour history with Bay Staters.
“It was just six years ago that the people of Massachusetts spoke out clearly that they didn’t feel that Beacon Hill was looking out for their best interests in raising the gas tax,” former state representative and U.S. Senate candidate Geoff Diehl told the Herald. Diehl successfully fought to repeal a gas tax hike in 2014.
The legislative package calls for a 5-cent gas tax increase, bringing it up to 29 cents per gallon, and a 9-cent increase on diesel fuel to 33 cents per gallon
“Beacon Hill is obviously tone-deaf. The people spoke clearly on gas tax hikes,” said Holly Robichaud, a Republican strategist who worked with Diehl to defeat the gas tax in 2014.
Lawmakers need to add profits from sports betting and online lottery sales to the revenue pie. Given its history with Massachusetts voters, a hike in the gas tax should be a last resort, not a default.