Massachusetts

Pickleball betting is now legal in Massachusetts, but some see potential for trouble – The Boston Globe

Published

1 year ago

August 25, 2023

Pickleball betting is now legal in Massachusetts, but some see potential for trouble – The Boston Globe

Jansen, the fifth-ranked women’s singles player and 11th-ranked doubles player in the world, said she’s too scared to engage in anything resembling match fixing.

She couldn’t speak for others.

“I wish our prize money were more than what people can make [betting] on a match, because that to me is just asking for a disaster,” said Jansen. “Sociology tells me if there’s a will, there’s a way, right?

“If you’re not medaling, you’re making anywhere from $1 to $2,000; with paying expenses, you might just be breaking even. Or maybe you can make a few thousand dollars doing something like [fixing a match].”

The PPA is one of three professional pickleball tours. It offers singles and doubles matches in traditional tournament settings, as does the Association of Pickleball Players. Major League Pickleball, which boasts several celebrity investors, plays in a two-division team format. For now, only PPA matches can be legally wagered on in Massachusetts.

On the PPA Tour, players can challenge other players’ calls on whether a ball is in or out, with a referee on hand to overrule or use instant replay, when available.

Rob Nunnery, who plays on the MLP and APP tours, also believes it’s premature to be betting on professional pickleball for reasons other than player-made line calls, inadequate video review, insufficient referee training, no drug testing, and loose paddle standards.

“The main issue with all of it is the wagers that you can make in pickleball, and the amount you can make per single bet is more than what some pros will take home for an entire tournament,” said Nunnery. “All that’s going to lead itself to is tampering and fixing and all the stuff that you don’t want to see happen.”

Nunnery said that, as a pro, he has never received any guidance on what he can and cannot do when it comes to betting on the sport he plays.

“That’s another issue — the lines being set are not very good yet,” said Nunnery. “As somebody that knows matchups and knows pickleball, you can look at these lines and be like, ‘Wow.’ It’s a big leg up in terms of if I were to bet on pickleball. It’d be a significant advantage.

“It just seems premature. Obviously, regulations are lacking in pickleball.”

In its press release heralding the betting development, the PPA said that “all PPA Tour professionals are subject to the PPA Tour Sports Betting and Integrity Policy. All PPA Tour staff, officials and players have been required to complete an e-learning platform focused on betting integrity and player wellbeing.”

Jim Brown, Sportradar’s head of integrity services in North America, said pickleball is unique among sports betting offerings in that players make their own line calls.

“Yes, it underscores the importance of establishing a foundation of education in order to safeguard the sport from threats of corruption and match-fixing,” said Brown, whose company is contracted by the PPA for integrity services.

The PPA Tour did not immediately respond to a request for specifics about its sports betting and integrity policy.

“I don’t want to stand in the way of pickleball,” said Massachusetts Gaming Commission chair Cathy Judd-Stein during a Zoom discussion, before asking for more clarity over the sport’s integrity training and why the sport’s addition is still pending in three states.

After those questions were answered to the MGC’s satisfaction, and with no prior integrity questions raised about the sport, the MGC approved the addition, 4-0.

Boston Globe Today: Sports | August 25, 2023

Watch the full episode of Boston Globe Today: Sports from August 25, 2023.

Michael Silverman can be reached at michael.silverman@globe.com.

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Massachusetts

Local startups recovering from the burst tech funding bubble – The Boston Globe

Published

2 hours ago

January 15, 2025

Press Room

Local startups recovering from the burst tech funding bubble – The Boston Globe

Tech startups based in Massachusetts finished 2024 with a buzz of activity in venture capital fundraising.

In the fourth quarter, 191 startups raised a total of $4.1 billion, 20 percent more than startups raised in the same period a year earlier, according to a report from research firm Pitchbook and the National Venture Capital Association. For the full year, local startups raised $15.7 billion, about the same as in 2023.

The stability ended two years of sharp declines from the peak of startup fundraising in 2021. Slowing e-commerce sales, volatility in tech stock prices, and higher interest rates combined to slam the brakes on startup VC activity over the past three years. The 2024 total is less half the $34.7 billion Massachusetts startups raised in 2021.

But local startup investors have expressed optimism that VC backing will continue to pick up in 2025.

The fourth quarter’s activity was led by battery maker Form Energy’s $455 million deal and biotech obesity drugmaker Kailera Therapeutics’ $400 million deal, both in October, and MIT spinoff Liquid AI’s $250 million deal last month. Two more biotech VC deals in October rounded out the top five. Seaport Therapeutics, working on new antidepressants, raised $226 million and Alpha-9 Oncology, developing new treatments for cancer patients, raised $175 million.

Massachusetts ranked third in the country in VC activity in the quarter. Startups based in California raised $49.9 billion and New York-based companies raised $5.3 billion.

Venture capital firms, however, had an even harder time raising money in 2024 compared to earlier years. Massachusetts firms raised $5.9 billion, down 7 percent from 2023 and the lowest total since 2018. That mirrored the national trend, as VC firms across the country raised $76.1 billion, down 22 percent from 2023 and the lowest since 2019.

Only one Massachusetts-based VC firm raised more than $1 billion in 2024, a more common occurrence in prior years, according to the report: Flagship Pioneering in Cambridge raised $2.6 billion in July for its eighth investment fund plus another $1 billion for smaller funds. The firm, founded by biotech entrepreneur Noubar Afeyan, helps develop scientific research for startups in addition to providing funding.

The next largest deals were Cambridge-based Atlas Ventures’ $450 million biotech-focused fund announced last month and Engine Ventures $400 million fund investing in climate tech startups announced in June.

The decline comes as VC firms have had trouble getting a return on their investments, because so few startups have been able to go public. Just six biotech companies based in Massachusetts and no tech companies went public last year.

Aaron Pressman can be reached at aaron.pressman@globe.com. Follow him @ampressman.

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Massachusetts

Mass. gives noncompliant towns more time to meet MBTA zoning regulations

Published

11 hours ago

January 15, 2025

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Mass. gives noncompliant towns more time to meet MBTA zoning regulations

The Healey administration filed emergency regulations late Tuesday afternoon to implement the controversial law meant to spur greater housing production, after Massachusetts’ highest court struck down the last pass at drafting those rules.

The Supreme Judicial Court upheld the MBTA Communities Act as a constitutional law last week, but said it was “ineffective” until the governor’s Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities promulgated new guidelines. The court said EOHLC did not follow state law when creating the regulations the first time around, rendering them “presently unenforceable.”

The emergency regulations filed Tuesday are in effect for 90 days. Over the next three months, EOHLC intends to adopt permanent guidelines following a public comment period, before the expiration of the temporary procedures, a release from the office said.

“The emergency regulations do not substantively change the law’s zoning requirements and do not affect any determinations of compliance that have been already issued by EOHLC. The regulations do provide additional time for MBTA communities that failed to meet prior deadlines to come into compliance with the law,” the press release said.

Massachusetts’ Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the state’s attorney general has the power to enforce the MBTA Communities Law, which requires communities near MBTA services to zone for more multifamily housing, but it also ruled that existing guidelines aren’t enforceable.

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The MBTA Communities Act requires 177 municipalities that host or are adjacent to MBTA service to zone for multifamily housing by right in at least one district.

Cities and towns are classified in one of four categories, and there were different compliance deadlines in the original regulations promulgated by EOHLC: host to rapid transit service (deadline of Dec. 31, 2023), host to commuter rail service (deadline of Dec. 31, 2024), adjacent community (deadline of Dec. 31, 2024) and adjacent small town (deadline of Dec. 31, 2025).

Under the emergency regulations, communities that did not meet prior deadlines must submit a new action plan to the state with a plan to comply with the law by 11:59 p.m. on Feb. 13, 2025. These communities will then have until July 14, 2025, to submit a district compliance application to the state.

Communities designated as adjacent small towns still face the Dec. 31, 2025 deadline to adopt compliant zoning.

The town of Needham voted Tuesday on a special referendum over whether to re-zone the town for 3,000 more units of housing under Massachusetts’ MBTA Communities law.

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Like the old version of the guidelines, the new emergency regulations gives EOHLC the right to determine whether a city or town’s zoning provisions to allow for multi-family housing as of right are consistent with certain affordability requirements, and to determine what is a “reasonable size” for the multi-family zoning district.

The filing of emergency regulations comes six days after the SJC decision — though later than the governor’s office originally projected. Healey originally said her team would move to craft new regulations by the end of last week to plug the gap opened up by the ruling.

“These regulations will allow us to continue moving forward with implementation of the MBTA Communities Law, which will increase housing production and lower costs across the state,” Healey said in a statement Tuesday. “These regulations allow communities more time to come into compliance with the law, and we are committed to working with them to advance zoning plans that fit their unique needs.”

A total of 116 communities out of the 177 subject to the law have already adopted multi-family zoning districts to comply with the MBTA Communities Act, according to EOHLC.

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Massachusetts

Revere city councilor slams Massachusetts officials for being ‘woke’ after migrant shelter bust

Published

19 hours ago

January 14, 2025

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Revere city councilor slams Massachusetts officials for being ‘woke’ after migrant shelter bust

A Revere city councilor says the state’s right-to-shelter law is a “perfect example” of how “woke” ideologies are harmful, as he addressed the arrest of a migrant who allegedly had an AR-15 and 10 pounds of fentanyl at a local hotel.

Originally Published: January 14, 2025 at 6:24 PM EST

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