 All right, and we're good to go great. Thank you, Dave. This is a convening of the Massachusetts gaming commission We are holding this meeting virtually, so we'll do our roll call. Good morning, Commissioner O'Brien. Good morning. I'm here Good morning, Commissioner Hill. Good morning. I'm here Good morning, Commissioner Skinner. Good morning, Madam Chair and good morning Good morning, Commissioner Mayne. Good morning. All right. We'll get started Today is our public meeting number 502 and we have just a few items, important items to get to and at round 10 we'll be convening a second public meeting for our agenda setting purposes followed by, later today, a third meeting which we'll hear from a few of our sports wagering operators for their quarterly updates we've prepared. So we'll turn now to Cary Teresey. Thank you and Director Ban. Cary Teresey, thank you very, very much for your good work here. Yes, of course. Good morning, Madam Chair and commissioners. So the first item on your agenda today is Better's request to approve its cessation of operations pursued to 205 CMR 258.05. Before I get started, I'll just note that Ashwin Krishnan, Alex Erson, Robert Warren from Better are all here should you have questions about their final report. So for background here on January 25th, Better submitted to the commission a notice of intent to cease operations in Massachusetts on February 16th along with a draft cessation plan as required by 205 CMR 258. On February 8th, the commission approved Better's cessation plan in accordance with 205 CMR 258.03. 205 CMR 258.051 requires that when a sports wagering operator has completed all actions called for in its cessation plan or on the approved cessation date, whichever is earlier, the operator submit a written report to the commission, notifying the commission that it has completed all actions necessary for cessation and requesting that cessation become effective. Better submitted its report pursuant to this section on February 16th. Following receipt of the written report, 205 CMR 258.051 requires the commission or its designate to issue a written decision approving or denying the cessation request. If the commission denies the cessation request, it may request reasonable modifications or impose conditions on the operator necessary for effective cessation. Pursuant to 205 CMR 258.052, the cessation is not effective until the commission issues this written decision approving the operator's cessation request. In your packet, you have Better's final cessation report, which I'll run through. You also have a draft written decision. Regarding the decision, I'll just note that 205 CMR 258 requires a written decision to be issued by the commission, but it doesn't dictate the format of the decision. In preparing a draft, I use this format that's in your packet, but the intent is just to memorialize your vote today. So regarding the report, I'll run through what's included in Better's final cessation report. They sent notice to patrons on February 12th regarding cessation of operations and notifying patrons how they could withdraw their funds from their accounts. Also on February 12th, they published the cessation notice on their social media platforms, the Boston Globes website and in the Globes print edition. And they also created a dedicated FAQ page related to cessation on their website. They have settled all existing wagers as of February 16th. On February 6th, they ceased offering sign-up bonuses in Massachusetts and on February 7th, they released any deposits that might have been locked due to the sign-up bonus terms and conditions and made those available for withdrawal. For any funds that have not been withdrawn from accounts by March 16th, they'll send checks to the patron's last physical address on file and any unclaimed balances will be handled in accordance with the unclaimed property statute. As of February 15th, there were no events available to bet on in Massachusetts with Better. On February 16th, they introduced a geolocation block from Massachusetts so that no wagers could be placed or accepted from within Massachusetts. On February 6th, they added all Massachusetts customers to a no communication list for advertising and marketing campaigns. Regarding the data retention and decommissioning plan, this will begin to be carried out on March 16th after access to patron accounts is closed and they'll work closely with our IT division to ensure that the plan is executed appropriately. Also beginning on March 16th, anyone in Massachusetts who attempts to access login or download the app will receive an ineligible location message. And regarding notification to vendors, vendors were initially notified on January 25th and were updated on February 12th and notified that anyone licensed and doing business solely with Better would be required to surrender their license within 10 days of Better's surrender of its license. Sportsway during IT, finance, and legal divisions have all reviewed Better's final cessation report and are satisfied that they've complied with their cessation plan and completed all actions necessary for cessation. And we would recommend that the commission approve Better's cessation request. But are there any questions on the report or the draft decision? Commissions, questions for Karen. Richard O'Brien. Thank you, Madam Chair. I carry the only comment that I have is I like what you did in terms of just very, you know, procedural posture and the cessation order. But I feel like the waiver that we gave for the 90 days should be in the body and not relegated to put that other than that. I liked the assurances that everyone involved has looked at this in terms of the citizen of the Commonwealth. They feel satisfied with the protections. That was my only comment is because it was, you know, so within the 90, I'd just like to see it more in the body. But other than that, great. Sure. If, you know, if the commission, it turns out that you're prepared to vote today, you could vote just on the condition that that's moved up to the, to that where the footnote is indicated. But that's it. Thanks. Madam Chair. Yes, I'm sorry. I think I might have missed you earlier. My apologies. No, you didn't. Just a clarification for the people of Massachusetts. So if they had a futures bet, what happened with that? They get their money back. They don't need future bets, I don't think, right? Well, if I made you two bet before. No, they didn't, they didn't offer them. I have the same question for the next commissioner. Yeah, that will only apply to win bets. Plan better doesn't offer future. So all of better's bets have been settled. There's nothing remaining as of right now. So I just wanted to be clear about that. And thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you, Kerry. Yeah. Okay. So thank you. Am I right that that are just didn't offer future bets? Okay. That's correct. Thank you so much. So that, that actually made your exit plan a little simpler. But Commissioner Hill, important on the with respect to our next one. I was good. I was confused by the company. So my mistake. My apologies for answering. Commissioner Skinner, are you all set? Commissioner Maynard. All set just to say I appreciate better and and their partnership. You know, and that's a really good observation. You know, Mr. Kirschman, we want to first extend our appreciation for your cooperation around this process. I think we all expected when the rag was written, it would be over a longer period of time. And we all sort of stepped up to the plate. And I thank our team for that. On a personal note, when, when better presented, and your application was approved to move forward for the temporary licensure and operating that's true as it's as one can assure, I really appreciated your product. And I thought we were putting our market together and offered some good consumer choice. And for that, I appreciated the innovations that that you folks are pursuing. And while I'm, I mean, personally, again, I'm sorry to see you're leaving our market. I know that you're going into several other markets and I wish you your company success. So thank you for that. But most importantly, at this juncture today, I thank you for your cooperation. And I know our legal department has been appreciative of that too. Commissioner O'Brien, one thing I did want to point out in terms of the the written decision that Attorney Theresa offered, our reg just had a written decision. So in many ways, it could have just been so ordered, right, based on our discussion. So I'm cautious to really do a microscope, although Kerry's decision was so thorough. I have no problem bringing your footnote up into the body. I appreciate that because it is an important part. But I also, if she had offered something that was a one liner, referring back, it would have been okay from my perspective. Yeah, talked about just a marginal endorsement, but that didn't seem, it seemed like what she did was the better way to go. I think so too. And now she has a template. So I appreciate the work that Kerry did here. Anything else? All right. Commissioner Hill, are you ready to give a motion? I'm not putting you on the spot. No, you're not. And I'm just, I am actually. I move that the commission approved better sensation request pursuant to 205 CMR 258.05. And further that staff be authorized to issue the written decision approving betters holding ink DBA betters request to cease operation in the Commonwealth as included in the commissioner's packet and discussed here today. Second. Thank you. Any discussion edits? Okay. Commissioner Brian. Hi. Commissioner Hill. Hi. Mr. Skinner. Hi. Thank you, commissioner. Hi. And I vote yes. Hi, Sarah. Thank you. Good luck to better. Thank you, commissioner. Thank you, madam chair. Thank you, commissioners. And very much appreciate all the hard work of the staff as well and helping us through this process and really appreciate the opportunity to be in Massachusetts. And like we said, hope to reenter at some point in the future. Good luck to you. Thank you. Okay, Carrie. Thank you for that. Now we turn to be Linda. Yes. So the next item is when that's report on the progress of their cessation plan pursuant to 205 CMR 258.04. Just a reminder that because of the timing of their approved cessation date, they're sending us this progress report and then we'll address their final cessation report next week. So I'll just note at the outset that Jennifer Roberts and Jackie Crumb are both here. Should you have any questions on this progress report for background here on January 24 when that submitted to the commission and notice of intent to cease operations in Massachusetts as of February 23rd with a draft cessation plan as required by 205 CMR 258. On February 8th, the commission approved when they win that cessation plan in accordance with 205 CMR 258.03. 205 CMR 258.04. One requires a sportsway during operator intending to cease operations to provide to the commission written reports on its implementation of the cessation plan at least every 10 days after providing its notice of intended cessation. Those reports must state whether the operator is on track to complete cessation by its approved cessation date or they require a delay of that date and whether the operator seeks to amend or deviate from its approved cessation plan. 205 CMR 258.04. Three allows the commission or its design to require reasonable modification or impose conditions on the operator cessation plan following review of such reports. So in your packet, you have win bets report. They have not requested any amendments or deviations from their approved cessation plan. So I'll just run through what's included in their report. On February 12 when that removed all sportsway during markets and stopped accepting deposits, at the same time they sent out notice to patrons regarding cessation of operations and advising patrons how to withdraw funds, how future bets or parlays would be settled, what would happen with their win rewards points, and directing patrons to FAQs. Also on February 12, they posted notice of cessation on their social media accounts and their website and they also posted updated FAQs. On February 13 when that representatives began reaching out to patrons about the settlement of future waiters and parlays that will remain unsettled after the 30 day wind down period has elapsed and they'll contact all such situated patrons by February 22. Reminders were sent to patrons to withdraw their account funds on February 20 and will also be sent on February 26 and March 4. Once all patron accounts are resolved and closed win bet will undertake the steps outlined in their deconditioning and data retention plan. Regarding notification to vendors, they notified all vendors of their anticipated cessation initially on January 29 and they sent additional notice on February 15, notifying vendors and suppliers that those doing business solely with win bet would need to surrender their license within 10 days of win bet surrender of its license. But they also published notice in the Boston Globes online and print editions of their cessation with a run period of February 14 to 18. The sportsway during IT finance and legal divisions have all reviewed the report submitted and we don't recommend the imposition of any modifications or conditions at this time. As I mentioned, we'll receive win bet's final cessation report on Friday and we would bring that to you next week. Regarding the agenda, I'll just note there you'll do see a vote on there. That's just because of the timing of when the agenda needed to be posted and when we were receiving the report. So I had suggested reserving a vote in the event the commission wanted to impose any conditions or request any modifications. And so with that, do you have any questions for me or sportsways or more win bet regarding your report commissioners? Any changes modifications? I see everybody I think saying no, they're all set. Good morning, Jennifer. Nice to see you. So I think we've got the green light on this next phase, right? Carrie? Oh, Commissioner Maynard. I didn't know if Commissioner Hill's question I thought about settling the futures. Okay, I'm sorry. Yes, you raised that. No, I'm sorry. I was waiting for him to jump back in, but I'll go ahead. I just wanted it on the record that they plan on how they plan on settling them. I was reading through it over the last couple of days and I called Carrie. If someone has a bet that pays out past 30 days, how are you treating that wager? Are you giving back the initial bet for them to then go and get it on the same line? Or are you going to pay it out at the brick and mortar? I was just trying to figure out how you were moving forward with that. Good morning, Mr. Commissioner, Madam Chair, members of the commission and staff. This is Jennifer Roberts win bet and wanted to happily report that we have reached out to all patrons. So we have contacted them and we have settled about 75% of the wagers. We're still waiting to hear even though we've made contact, we're still waiting for responses on a majority that have not yet settled. But our settlement offer is at a minimum, the stake is returned, the amount that they've wagered. But we do also take into account a fair market analysis of what the bet could be made if it were offered by a competitor. So we look at the competitors offerings and allow them to settle at a fair market value. Thank you, Jennifer. Of course. Commissioner Hill, any follow-up on that? Are you all set? Yeah. Thank you, Jennifer. Appreciate it very much. Anything else? All right. Then, Carrie, I think we're all set for today. Great. Thank you. Yes, all set. Jennifer, nice to see you. Thank you so much. All right. Then we'll move on to item number three. And there's Dave Sousa and Tom Mills. And we're going to go through the internal report process with us a little bit, just the work that was done by the team. And then the commissioners can provide any edits if there are any to you. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you, chair. We appreciate the opportunity to present the commission with the near final 2023 annual report. The draft is in today's meeting packet and has been distributed to commissioners for their review. Want to give a shout out, as you just did, to Dave Sousa for being instrumental, working with our vendor to pull this version together, as well as Grace Robinson, who did a lot of work to get this in a great place before her leave. The division heads, their teams and our licensees were helpful in providing the information contained in the report and checking and double checking that work. So we really appreciate that. Once this version is approved, Dave and I will work with our vendor on final touches, including finalizing the table of contents, which you'll see is not finalized in this version, and then making final copy edits. The report will then be printed and shared with key legislative leaders and posted on the commission's website. So we are happy to answer any questions or take any direction from the commission today. And again, thank you to the folks who have pulled this together through this process. Dave, do you want to add anything besides? I think Tom's really covered it all. Again, I would just reemphasize a big thank you to Grace Robinson for all the work that she did to kind of get us to the final stretch. And Tom and I just took it over the five yard line. So thanks to her very much. And we look forward to her return soon. Thank you. Okay, commissioners. Any edits? Any questions? Any applause? Well, applause. Every year, I am amazed. I think Crystal used to say how much she loved doing this. And I would say I was always gobsmacked that she said that. So I don't know if Grace enjoyed it or not, but thank you to her and to you guys for getting this across the line. You know, Commissioner O'Brien, that's a really good point. Dave and I absolutely darkened Crystal's doorstep as well through this process. My only question is, the people that worked on this, were they also on high school yearbook? That's always my question when I'm going through it. Good question. It's done well. I absolutely was. That's really awesome. So just so you know, Grace Robinson, I publicly can say is on maternity leave and will be coming her first day back will be Monday. And and Audrey has accomplished great things, great things moving ahead in a way over four months period that most of us have taken a lifetime to accomplish. She is rolling with like she's ready to go to the Olympics. So but Grace did say she's on. She must be ready to come back. She is actually watching the meeting right now. And she said, you should add Dave's name to the inner record, don't you think? So we want to give him credit somewhere for the inner report. And she did say mine is on the staff list, but not his. So always a generous teammate. And given that you took it over that five yard line, we all know what that means in any winning game. So we'll make sure to add your name. Tom, if you can make that edit, that's a great note. Great. Grace, thank you for that. And, and Grace, we appreciate that you're texting and not actually coming into the meeting. Enjoy your time off. Anything else? Just great work. The numbers page is my favorite. I know I think that Crystal may have initiated that she saw that and I just think it's a really good graphic and an important way to digest our work. So thank you. All right. So commissioners, I think that we could just decide by consensus or we could decide by vote. Does anybody want to formalize and adopt motion to move forward? Sure. Sure. Madam chair, I move that the commission approve the 2023 annual report as included in the commissioners packet and discussed here today. Second. Okay. Commissioner Brian. Hi. Commissioner Hill. Hi. Mr. Skinner. Hi. Mr. Maynard. Hi. And I vote yes, five, zero. Excellent work. And thank you. It's important to get it to the legislature. And I know that there's a distribution process, which I imagine Trudy will be helping with too. We want to give a shout out to Trudy as she implements that aspect of the annual report process. So thank you. All right. Commissures, we have another meeting in about a half an hour. I think unless there's a commission update right now or other business, we would conclude this public meeting with a motion. Move to adjourn. Thanks. Commissioner. Second. Thanks. Commissioner O'Brien. Or did you say hi? Oh, hi. Thank you. Commissioner Hill. Hi. Mr. Skinner. Hi. Mr. Maynard. Hi. I vote yes, five, zero. Thanks. And thanks. Excellent work, everyone.