Read The Letter PointsBet Sent To Pull Its Massachusetts Application

During last Thursday’s Massachusetts Gaming Commission meeting, the MGC voted to accept PointsBet‘s request to withdraw its Massachusetts online sports betting license application.

This was merely a formality. PointsBet withdrew its application a few weeks before the March 10 online sports betting launch and was not one of six MA online sportsbooks that launched that day.

However, according to state regulations, the commission must officially accept that withdrawal. It did by a 5-0 vote.

“A little disappointing obviously that we approved it and then less than two months later there’s a turnaround,” commissioner Eileen O’Brien said.

The letter PointsBet sent to the MGC requesting approval of its withdrawal was included in the materials for Thursday’s meeting. Here is the letter. The “Exhibit A” referenced was redacted because it contained “commercially-sensitive” information.

PointsBet’s Massachusetts withdrawal letter

This letter was on page 14 of the Thursday MGC meeting materials.

Dear Executive Director Wells,

On behalf of PointsBet Massachusetts bLC (“PointsBet”), I would like to express immense gratitude to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (“MGC”) for the meticulous and thorough approach to launching a sports wagering regulatory structure in the Commonwealth, pursuant to enabling legislation. PointsBet recognizes the immeasurable efforts of the MGC throughout the pendency of the process. It has been our distinct pleasure to work closely with the MGC and its staff.

Due to business reasons detailed in Exhibit A, PointsBet would like to request MGC’s approval to withdraw its business entity disclosure application submitted for consideration as a Category 3 licensee and all related business entity disclosures and individual qualifier applications submitted on its behalf, as outlined in Exhibit B. On January 19, 2023, the MGC made a finding that PointsBet was preliminarily suitable during public deliberations, as such requiring the submission of this request to obtain the necessary approval ofMGC to withdraw its application from further consideration.

Thank you in advance for your time with this matter. Please let us know if you have any questions. We look forward to hearing from the MGC regarding our request for approval to withdraw the PointsBet Massachusetts LLC application and any related entity and personnel applications submitted as required and outlined in Exhibit B to this letter.

‘Focus on our 14 live states’

PointsBet was a bit more specific when it told Play MA why it chose not to launch in Massachusetts in February.

In an email to Play MA, Patrick Eichner, PointsBet director of communications, said:

“We have chosen this path to emphasize our continued focus on our 14 live states of the US (plus Ontario) and how we can best optimize those markets which provide an immense (Total Addressable Market) for us to go after.”