Is crypto sports betting legal in Massachusetts?

What's legal

Massachusetts legalized sports wagering in August 2022 and wrote the rules into chapter 23N of the General Laws. Retail betting started at the state's casinos on January 31, 2023, and mobile betting followed on March 10, 2023. You must be 21 to bet, and an online wager only works while you are physically inside Massachusetts.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission licenses every operator. Seven mobile sportsbooks are licensed now, and three casinos run in-person sportsbooks: Encore Boston Harbor, MGM Springfield and Plainridge Park. Chapter 23N section 3 leaves high school and youth events off the menu. It also excludes any college event involving a Massachusetts team unless the team is playing in a collegiate tournament.

How betting works here

Mobile bets go through your sports wagering account with a licensed operator, and each bet must be initiated, received and made inside Massachusetts (chapter 23N, section 13(b)). Operators cannot take a wager from anyone under 21, and they cannot take a credit card (section 13(d)). Employees may not bet on their own employer's platform or at its facilities (section 13(f)).

The Commission keeps an exclusion list of banned patrons and a separate list of people who excluded themselves, and operators must keep both groups out. A winning bet nobody claims stays with the operator for one year, then goes to the Sports Wagering Control Fund (section 13(h)).

Section 24 adds a check before big payouts. When a prize is subject to federal withholding, the operator first checks whether you owe past-due child support or state tax. Any such debt comes out of the prize after tax withholding: child support first, then the Department of Revenue, then you.

Crypto and offshore sites

Licensed Massachusetts apps are run by regulated companies and fund accounts in US dollars. Crypto is not a normal deposit option at them, so a crypto holder usually has to sell coins for dollars first and then move the money in. Selling is a taxable event of its own.

No offshore crypto sportsbook holds a Massachusetts license, and none is licensed in any US state. If one refuses a payout, no state regulator can step in. Attorney General Andrea Campbell has shown she will act against unlicensed operators: in June 2025 her office ordered two online gaming sites to stop serving the state.

The Attorney General's regulations at 940 CMR 30.00 cover illegal lotteries, sweepstakes and de facto gambling establishments, and the state's law library lists them next to chapter 271, the gambling crimes chapter.

Fantasy, racing and prediction markets

Daily fantasy sports became legal in Massachusetts through St. 2016, c. 219, sections 135 and 137, as amended by St. 2018, c. 154, section 66. The Attorney General regulates operators under 940 CMR 34.00, which caps deposits at $1,000 per calendar month unless the operator raises the limit after a review, and bars credit. The state's law library lists 21 as the minimum age for daily fantasy.

Prediction markets are the live fight. The Attorney General sued Kalshi in September 2025, saying its sports event contracts are sports wagering without a Commission license. On January 20, 2026, a Suffolk Superior Court judge granted a preliminary injunction barring Kalshi from taking online sports wagers and related event contracts from Massachusetts customers until it is licensed. The judge also denied Kalshi's motion to dismiss.

The state pages we checked do not say whether Massachusetts authorizes online horse-race wagering through advance-deposit accounts, so this page makes no claim about it.

What's changing

Kalshi appealed the injunction, and the Supreme Judicial Court heard oral argument on May 4, 2026 (docket SJC-13906). We found no decision as of October 26, 2026. The ruling will settle whether federal commodities law overrides Massachusetts sports wagering law, and the sources we found disagree on whether Kalshi won a stay while the appeal runs.

Tax on winnings

Massachusetts taxes personal income at a flat 5 percent, with an extra 4 percent surtax on income above $1,107,750 for tax year 2026. Gambling winnings count as income. Nonresidents owe tax on winnings from Massachusetts sources, which includes Massachusetts casinos, the state lottery and any wagering transaction in the state.

The Department of Revenue says losses are generally not deductible. The exception covers losses at a chapter 23K casino, with a chapter 23N sports wagering operator or at a racing or simulcasting licensee. The deduction cannot exceed that year's winnings from those same sources. Massachusetts withholds 5 percent of winnings only when federal withholding applies. Federal rules sit on top: see [state tax on winnings](/tax/state-tax-on-winnings/).

If something goes wrong

The Gaming Commission licenses sports wagering operators. Under section 16 of chapter 23N it can hold a hearing and impose civil penalties on an operator that breaks the law or its house rules. For a dispute, start with the operator, then take it to the Commission.

Sports wagering self-exclusion is a Commission program under 205 CMR 233.00. You choose one year, three years, five years or a lifetime term, and the lifetime option opens after six months or after a completed term. Your term does not expire on its own. You must complete a reinstatement session before you can bet again. The Commission's number is 617-533-9737.

The Massachusetts Problem Gambling Helpline is 1-800-327-5050. Text GAMB to the same number or visit MAProblemGamblingHelpline.org. Specialists answer around the clock and the service is free and confidential.

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