Add Massachusetts to the list of US states where online gambling, including online poker, will receive some legislative attention in 2025. Twin measures have been introduced in Massachusetts’s House and Senate, though no hearings or votes have been scheduled for either of the new bills to date.

The House version of the Massachusetts iGaming bill, HD 4084, was introduced by MA State Representative Daniel Cahill, while the complementary Senate version, SD 2240, was introduced by State Senator Paul R. Feeney. Matching language in both bills specifically authorizes online poker in addition to other forms of online casino-style gaming.

iGaming bill teased in the summer of 2024

That Massachusetts would be among the states where iGaming legislation would be in play early in 2025 comes as little surprise. Last August, another state representative, David K. Muradian Jr., disclosed in an interview his plans to file an iGaming bill in early 2025.

However, Muradian hedged on the chances his bill might have, since he is part of the Massachusetts legislature’s Republican minority, and that Democrats, as he told PlayUSA at the time, had shown little intetest in iGaming. “Realistically, the process to pass iGaming [in Massachusetts] could take a few years,” Muradian declared.

The interesting twist is that the twin bills recently introduced in Massachusetts have been filed by Democrats, in Cahill and Feeney. Whether that means Muradian will introduce rival legislation in the near future is publicly unknown.

As for the Cahill and Feeney bills, both contain a unique twist specific to online poker. If online gambling is legalized in the state, each operator will be limited to one skin under the initial form of the bills. However, each operator would be able (but would not be required) to launch a second, separately branded skin solely for the purpose of conducting online-poker operations.