Boston, MA
Encore Boston Harbor sports betting license approved by regulators
Gaming regulators permitted Thursday a sports activities betting license for Encore Boston Harbor, making it the primary on line casino in Massachusetts to achieve an preliminary greenlight and placing it on the trail to facilitate in-person betting someday early subsequent yr.
And if not for the glitzy on line casino in Everett, the primary full week of December would have handed with out the Massachusetts Gaming Fee approving any of the three sports activities betting functions from casinos within the state that have been the topic of prolonged hearings over three days.
However Encore Boston Harbor managed to safe what its rivals, MGM Springfield and Plainridge Park On line casino, had not in conferences on Tuesday and Wednesday — for the second, at the least. The fee voted 5-0 in a couple of totally different situations in favor of Encore Boston Harbor’s utility.
It’s the primary stamp of approval the fee has given to a potential sports activities betting operator as they eye a late January launch for in-person sports activities wagering. Regardless that it’s a large step ahead for sports activities wagering supporters, Encore Boston Harbor nonetheless has a methods to go earlier than patrons can begin betting on their favourite sports activities crew.
- Learn extra: Annoyed regulators delay vote on sports activities betting at MGM Springfield
On line casino officers reveled within the approval, and commissioners applauded Encore Boston Harbor for what they mentioned was a stable utility to be the one entity to legally provide sports activities betting within the Larger Boston space.
“We are able to’t inform you how excited we’re. We’re very happy that we constructed the sportsbook after we did and that we lastly get to open it and use it as a sports activities ebook,” Encore Boston Harbor Vice President Jacqui Krum mentioned on the finish of a day-long assembly.
Nevertheless it was the connection between Encore Boston Harbor and WynnBET, which is able to function an odd-setting service for retail wagering, that almost led to a postponed vote on the on line casino’s utility. Each are owned by the identical father or mother firm, and WynnBET can be in search of a cellular sports activities betting license and may have a listening to on its utility subsequent week.
Commissioner Nakisha Skinner requested Encore Boston Harbor officers if they might reply questions on WynnBET’s compliance historical past and potential license suspensions or denials.
Krum mentioned she might provide extra info, however requested the assembly enter into government session — which the general public is barred from attending or viewing — to take action.
On the suggestion of Commissioners Jordan Maynard, regulators ended up breaking for 10 minutes for Skinner to overview WynnBET’s solutions to questions of compliance and adjudicatory choices because it pertains to licenses.
When the group returned, Skinner mentioned she had reviewed “some very regarding exercise” relating to WynnBET”s on-line sports activities wagering operations.
“I perceive that that’s not what’s in entrance of us at the moment. However that’s the place I battle with attempting to grasp the place we draw the road, like what the effective line is,” Skinner mentioned. “I perceive that that exercise pertains to WynnBET’s on-line operations.”
- Learn extra: Casinos’ functions lay out what sports activities betting might seem like in Mass.
On the finish of the day, Krum mentioned, the on line casino is the one making use of for a sports activities betting license, and accepts full duty for any points with its operations.
“If we have been lucky sufficient to obtain a class one license, we’d be the individual standing behind that, Wynn MA LLC, not WynnBET,” she mentioned. “So if one in all our distributors, whether or not it’s WynnBET or any of the others, some who’re gaming and a few who are usually not gaming associated, precipitated us to breach any of the laws or our inside controls, we’d settle for duty for that.”
At hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday, regulators held off on approving functions from Plainridge Park On line casino and MGM Springfield after points have been aired about their respective retail wagering companions, Barstool Sportsbook and BetMGM.
Throughout Thursday’s listening to on Encore Boston Harbor, Commissioner Chair Cathy Judd-Stein warned regulators to not take WynnBET’s exercise as an internet sportsbook into consideration whereas deliberating the on line casino’s utility, the place WynnBET would solely function a vendor.
Commissioner Eileen O’Brien mentioned she might empathize with Skinner.
“When you’ve the identical title and the identical entity performing in twin features, it’s generally tough to attract the road on the place does the seller turn into a part of the suitability of the applicant and/or a qualifying entity in its personal proper,” she mentioned.
Commissioner Brad Hill argued regulators wanted to take care of a slender concentrate on solely the Encore Boston Harbor utility, and never lengthen themselves to WynnBET as a vendor.
“That’s how I’m this utility,” he mentioned. “And I really feel very comfy as the seller for EBH, that we must always transfer this specific utility ahead as a result of I do imagine that we’re a vendor.”
Fifteen entities have utilized for one of many three varieties of sports activities betting licenses in Massachusetts’ brand-new market.
- Learn extra: When will sports activities betting launch in Mass.? Regulators say subsequent yr
Every utility can run a whole lot of pages lengthy and requires firms to reply questions in regards to the know-how they plan to make use of, the financial impression on the state, range and inclusion initiatives, and accountable gaming packages, amongst different issues.
Like candidates who went earlier than the fee earlier within the week, officers from Encore Boston Harbor used a roughly hour-long presentation to gush about their potential future sports activities betting choices.
Encore Boston Harbor Director of Sponsorships Joe Zarbano mentioned the on line casino will provide 10 stay betting home windows at its WynnBET Sports activities Bar, an space outfitted with a 123-foot-long video wall that opened in September 2021.
A number of places throughout the power can even function betting kiosks, together with within the WynnBET kiosk room, a location Zarbano mentioned shall be an excellent place for a “thrill of the sport sports activities bettor.”
The on line casino additionally deliberate to submit a request later Thursday to increase its gaming space to cowl parts of the storage, the place officers wish to arrange 20 kiosks for “quick, handy, and straightforward” betting providers.
“Provided that Encore Boston Harbor will open as Larger Boston space’s solely authorized choice to position a sports activities wager till the launch of cellular and class two venues, topic to the approval of the Massachusetts Gaming Fee, we’re getting ready a handy and fast method for sports activities wagerers to position their wager with out having to enter the on line casino,” Encore Boston Harbor’s sports activities betting utility mentioned.
Zarbano mentioned the realm may have devoted 15-minute parking steps away from the kiosks, and safety and “full surveillance shall be current on this location as it will be in each different gaming space in our resort.”
- Learn extra: These on line casino, cellular platforms utilized for Mass. sports activities betting licenses
However O’Brien mentioned she had issues in regards to the proposal, primarily with safety protocols and money transfers within the garage-based betting space.
“I nonetheless elevate an eyebrow at placing it in that venue,” O’Brien mentioned. “Not solely only for form of the best-in-class on line casino expertise but in addition safety points, and so on. And I do wish to speak about that. This may increasingly or might not be the venue. Additionally, that will must be one thing that’s mentioned in one other setting, by way of safety.”
Krum mentioned there shall be somebody stationed within the so-called park-and-play space 24 hours a day to examine IDs and “be sure that we observe the identical procedures that we do on the on line casino flooring.”
“I’m joyful to offer info on these safety issues. I’d want to not do it in a public setting for apparent causes,” Krum mentioned, to which the fee determined to speak about it extra throughout an government session later within the day. “We’ve got thought by it. We’ve had a whole lot of dialogue about varied potential safety points and the way we’d tackle these.”
The on line casino additionally plans to supply a function in reference to the betting kiosks known as “Carry Your Personal Gadget,” the place patrons can go to a weblink, fill out their desired bets, after which scan a QR code at a kiosk to have their wager “immediately pop up.”
“This function will permit company to have enough time to think about their wagers fastidiously previous to putting them, with out the stress of different company ready to make use of the kiosks,” Encore Boston Harbor’s utility mentioned.
Maynard questioned whether or not the info collected from patrons by the “Carry Your Proprietor Gadget” providing could be shared with WynnBET, which has utilized to supply a separate cellular sportsbook in Massachusetts linked to Encore Boston Harbor.
He was alluding to issues he has raised previously by which firms who’re allowed to launch first may be capable to accumulate knowledge on patrons that may then give them a aggressive benefit down the street as soon as they’re allowed to launch a cellular providing.
“There’s nonetheless an fairness concern when one place and one digital technique of gathering info is stay and really accepting bets and one group shouldn’t be stay and never in a position to settle for bets however can settle for knowledge,” Maynard mentioned. “There’s a distinction.”
Krum mentioned the “Carry Your Personal Gadget” providing wouldn’t use the WynnBET app.
“This isn’t registering for the WynnBET app. It’s a totally separate utility or software program,” she mentioned, including patrons would go to an internet hyperlink, not obtain an utility.
Boston, MA
Nine ways to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day around Boston – The Boston Globe
SMALL ACTS, BIG IMPACTS: A DAY OF SERVICE From Saturday to Monday, give back to the community with the Discovery Museum’s “Day of Service” in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day’s designation as a National Day of Service. Donate or collect supplies for the Welcome Basket drive, and make a warm welcome card in support of the Refugee and Immigrant Assistance Center. Donations for these care packages — including cleaning and laundry supplies, hygiene products, infant care items, and winter clothing — will go to immigrant or refugee families in need of essential daily items. Free admission. Jan. 18-20, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., 177 Main St., Acton. discoveryacton.org
MLK DAY CONCERT — VOTING WITH PURPOSE AND WITHOUT FEAR On Sunday, the Association of Black Citizens of Lexington is hosting a concert in honor of MLK Jr. Day and in celebration of the lives of Martin Luther King Jr. and activist Fannie Lou Hamer. Both civil rights leaders were integral in the fight for equal voting rights and access to ballots for all voters. Enjoy songs of spirituality and freedom — performed by Brother Dennis and Friends — as an homage to the songs that motivated those at the Meredith March Against Fear in 1966 and many other civil rights activists of the 1960s. Tickets are $25. Jan. 19, 2 p.m.-3:30 p.m. Follen Church, 755 Mass. Ave., Lexington. eventbrite.com
EMBRACE HONORS MLK On Sunday, Embrace Boston hosts Embrace Honors MLK 2025, a formal evening of joy, music, and community. Leaders to be honored include former Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and first lady Lauren Baker, and former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and first lady Diane Patrick. Hosts include Melisa Valdez, in-arena host for the Boston Celtics, and Latoyia Edwards, Emmy-winning anchor from NBC 10 Boston. DJ Envy, DJ Papadon, and the Berklee All Star Jazz Band are among the entertainers booked. Tickets are $450. Jan. 19. 6:30 p.m.-midnight. Big Night Live, 110 Causeway St. embraceboston.org
PEABODY ESSEX MUSEUM DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. CELEBRATION The Peabody Essex Museum will honor the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday with a variety of art installations. View the works of Bethany Collins (”America: A Hymnal”), David Boxer (”The Black Books”), and Alison Saar’s (”Weight)”. Starting at 11 a.m., join fluid acrylics artist Rahim Gray to learn the way he incorporates social justice and music in his work and to make pour art of your own. Free admission. Jan. 20, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 161 Essex St., Salem. pem.org
ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM — MLK JR. DAY OF SERVICE Visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Monday to stroll its galleries, hear storytellers, and participate in activities. Featured exhibits include performance artist Dzidzor’s soundscape “Riot: A Sermon of Anger, Dreams, and Love,” Crystal Bi’s “Dream Portal” hands-on installation, and a performance by Amanda Shea and musician Wylsner Bastien of “Why We Still Dream” at Calderwood Hall. Free admission. Jan. 20, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 25 Evans Way. gardnermuseum.org
CELEBRATE! WITH GEORGE RUSSELL JR. AND FRIENDS The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum hosts a Monday performance of some of Martin Luther King Jr.’s favorite songs by George Russell Jr. and Friends. The event is free to the public per the support of the Martin Richard Foundation and the Mass Cultural Council. Jan. 20, 10:30.-11:30 a.m. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Columbia Point. eventbrite.com
MFA BOSTON OPEN HOUSE, MLK DAY In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. and the communal and artistic spirit of the holiday, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston will offer free admission Monday to any visitors with a Massachusetts ZIP code. Within the museum, view ArtSpark’s “Radical Heroes” program and make your own window-hanging at the “Stained Glass: Doves” station. The museum offers several other performances and talks; see the website for the schedule. Jan. 20. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave. mfa.org
BOSTON CHILDREN’S CHORUS — ROAD TO FREEDOM This year’s Boston Children’s Chorus MLK Day program educates about Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, two civil rights leaders who are often perceived as ideologically unaligned, though the interconnectedness between the two is more complex. The “Road to Freedom” program at Symphony Hall on Monday is designed to educate the Boston community on the similarities between the two activists, and the vital role both hold in shaping social movements of the past and present. $15-$75. Jan. 20, 4 p.m. Symphony Hall, 301 Mass. Ave. bso.org
ANNUAL MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. CELEBRATION Join the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras and the Boston community for a celebratory program of memorable performances on Monday. The two-hour program, presented in conjunction with the Museum of African American History, will include spiritual and cultural performances, spoken word and readings, and guest speakers. Free admission. Jan. 20. Starts at 1 p.m. Strand Theatre, 543 Columbia Road. eventbrite.com
Haley Clough can be reached at haley.clough@globe.com. Follow her on Instagram @hcloughjournalism.
Boston, MA
Boston Celtics vs. Toronto Raptors: Where to watch free NBA live stream
A pair of division foes in the Eastern Conference meet up on Wednesday, Jan. 15 when the Boston Celtics travel to take on the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.
The game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. EST and will be broadcast on NBC Sports Boston. Fans looking to watch this NBA game can do so for free by using DirecTV Stream, which offers a free trial. You can also watch on FuboTV, which also offers a free trial and $30 off your first month, or SlingTV, which doesn’t offer a free trial but has promotional offers available.
The Celtics are looking for their first winning streak since they beat the Raptors, Timberwolves and Rockets consecutively to end December and start January. Boston enters this matchup at 28-11 while Toronto is 9-31 and winless in two previous matchups with the defending champions.
- WATCH THE GAME FOR FREE HERE
Who: Boston Celtics vs. Toronto Raptors
When: Wednesday, Jan. 15 at 7:30 p.m. EST
Where: Scotiabank Arena in Toronto
Stream: FuboTV; Sling; DirecTV Stream (free trial)
Betting: Check out our MA sports betting guide, where you can learn basic terminology, definitions and how to read odds for those interested in learning how to bet in Massachusetts.
What is FuboTV?
FuboTV is an internet television service that offers more than 200 channels across sports and entertainment including Paramount+ with SHOWTIME. From the UEFA Champions League to the WNBA to international tournaments ranging across sports, there’s plenty of options available on FuboTV, which offers a free trial and $30 off the first month for new customers.
What is DirecTV Stream?
DirecTV Stream offers practically everything DirecTV provides, except for a remote and a streaming device to connect to your television. Sign up now and get three free months of premium channels including MAX, Paramount+ with SHOWTIME and Starz.
What is SlingTV?
SlingTV offers a variety of live programing ranging from news and sports and starting as low as $20 a month for your first month. Subscribers also get a month of DVR Plus free if they sign up now. Choose from a variety of sports packages without long-term contracts and with easy cancelation.
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Court papers say ex-NBA player Jontay Porter laid out betting scheme in a text; 6th person arrested
By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — A sixth person was charged Monday in the federal sports betting case involving ex-NBA player Jontay Porter, and authorities disclosed a text message Porter allegedly sent explaining how to cash in on his plans to bench himself in a January 2024 game.
The former Toronto Raptors center already has pleaded guilty in the criminal case and was banned from the NBA for life. He admitted that he agreed to withdraw early from games, claiming illness or injury, so that those in the know could win big by betting on him to underperform expectations.
Although the new developments don’t affect the legal case against Porter, they put the scheme in what a court document says were his own words.
“Hit unders for the big numbers,” Porter wrote to an alleged conspirator on Jan. 26, 2024, according to a court complaint against yet another alleged schemer, Shane Hennen. He was arrested Sunday at the Las Vegas airport while boarding a flight to Panama.
“No blocks no steals. I’m going to play first 2-3 minute stint off the bench then when I get subbed out tell them my eye killing me again,” Porter wrote, according to the complaint. It identifies him only as “NBA Player 1” but makes clear through references — such as the details of his guilty plea last year — that it’s Porter.
He had scratched an eye during a game on Jan. 22, 2024, keeping conspirators in the loop by text even from the arena, according to the complaint. But he wasn’t on the injured list when the Raptors faced the LA Clippers four days later.
Porter ultimately played about 4 1/2 minutes in that game before saying he had aggravated the eye problem. Then he pulled out of a March 20 game against the Sacramento Kings after less than three minutes, saying he felt ill. His performance in both games fell well below what sportsbooks had anticipated.
Porter told a court in July that he got involved in the plot to try to clear his own gambling debts. He’s set to be sentenced in May. He could face anything from no jail time to 20 years behind bars; prosecutors have estimated his sentence at about 3 1/2 to four years in prison.
A message was sent to his lawyer Monday to seek comment on the developments.
Hennen was released without bail after his arraignment Monday in Las Vegas on charges including wire fraud conspiracy. The court complaint alleges that he placed bets through proxies after co-conspirators alerted him to Porter’s plans for the Jan. 26 game, and that he also got a heads-up about the March 20 game and likely told other gamblers about it.
A message seeking comment was sent to his attorney.
Besides Hennen and Porter, four other people also have been charged to date. Two have pleaded guilty, a third has pleaded not guilty, and the fourth hasn’t entered a plea.
The complaint against Hennen alleges there were still more conspirators involved. It’s unclear whether more people may yet be arrested.
The Associated Press contributed to this article
Boston, MA
Constantine Manos, photographer for landmark ‘Where’s Boston?’ exhibit, dies at 90 – The Boston Globe
Among Mr. Manos’s books were “A Greek Portfolio” (1972; updated 1999), “Bostonians” (1975), “American Color” 1995) and ”American Color 2″ (2010). Mr. Manos’s work with color was notably expressive and influential.
“Color was a four-letter word in art photography,” the photographer Lou Jones, who worked with Mr. Manos on “Where’s Boston?,” said in a telephone interview. “But he was making wonderful, complex photographs with color, and that meant so much.”
Yet for all his formal skill, Mr. Manos always emphasized the human element in his work. “I am a people photographer and have always been interested in people,” he once said.
That interest extended beyond the photographs he took. He was a celebrated teacher. Among the students he taught in his photo workshops was Stella Johnson.
“He’d go through a hundred of my photographs,” she said in a telephone interview, “and maybe he’d like two. ‘No, no, no, no, yes, no.’ Costa really taught me how to see. I remember him looking at one picture and saying, “You were standing in the wrong spot.’ Something like that was invaluable to me as a young photographer.
“He was a very, very kind man, very generous. But he was very strict. ‘How could you do that?’ He was adored by his students and by his friends, absolutely. We were all lucky to have been in his orbit.”
Mr. Manos, who moved to Provincetown in 2008, lived in the South End for four decades. The South Carolina native’s association with the Boston area began when the Boston Symphony Orchestra hired him as a photographer at Tanglewood. He was 19. This led to Mr. Manos’s first book, “Portrait of a Symphony” (1961; updated 2000).
Constantine Manos was born in Columbia, S.C., on Oct. 12, 1934. His parents, Dimitri and Aphrodite (Vaporiotou) Manos, were Greek immigrants. They ran a café in the city’s Black section. That experience gave Mr. Manos a sympathy for marginalized people that would stay with him throughout his life. As a student at the University of South Carolina, he wrote editorials in the school paper opposing segregation. Later, he would do extensive work chronicling the LGBTQ+ community with his camera.
Mr. Manos became interested in photography at 13, joining the school camera club and building a darkroom in his parents’ basement. After graduating from college, Mr. Manos did two years of Army service in Germany, working as a photographer for Stars and Stripes. He joined Magnum in 1963. This had special meaning for him. Mr. Manos’s chief inspiration as a young photographer had been Henri Cartier-Bresson, one of Magnum’s founders. He was such an admirer he made a point of using the same equipment that Cartier-Bresson did.
That same year, Mr. Manos entered a seafood restaurant in Rome that was around the corner from the Pantheon. Prodanou, his future husband, was dining with friends. Noticing Mr. Manos, he gestured to him. “Would you join us for coffee?” The couple spent the next 61 years together, marrying in 2011.
Mr. Manos lived in Greece for three years, which led to “A Greek Portfolio.” He undertook a very different project in the Athens of America. Part of the city’s Bicentennial tribute, “Where’s Boston?” was a slice-of-many-lives view of contemporary Boston.
Located in a red-white-and-blue striped pavilion at the Prudential Center, it became a local sensation. The installation involved 42 computerized projectors and 3,097 color slides (most of them taken by Mr. Manos), shown on eight 10 feet by 10 feet screens. Outside the pavilion was a set of murals, consisting of 152 black-and-white photographs of Boston scenes, all shot by Mr. Manos.
“The most important thing I had to do was to keep my picture ideas simple,” he said in a 1975 Globe interview. “Viewers are treated to a veritable avalanche of color slides in exactly one hour’s time.”
In that same interview, he made an observation about his work generally. “I prefer to stay in close to my subjects. I let them see me and my camera and when they become bored they forget about me and then I get my best pictures.”
Among institutions that own Mr. Manos’s photographs are the Museum of Fine Arts; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Art Institute of Chicago; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; the Library of Congress; and the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
In addition to his husband, Mr. Manos leaves a sister, Irene Constantinides, of Atlanta, and a brother, Theofanis Manos, of Greenville, S.C.
A memorial service will be held later this year.
Mark Feeney can be reached at mark.feeney@globe.com.
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