​​KEENAN FOR SENATE

General Political Party

​In the News 2025

- April 7, 2025 - Boston.Com – New bill seeks to ban prop bets, impose other sports betting regulations
When state Sen. John Keenan surveys the landscape of sports betting in Massachusetts today, he sees an eerily familiar echo of the past. He sees powerful companies using bold marketing tactics to push a product that can be used safely but that can also destroy lives. He sees these companies blaming individuals for not being able to control themselves while pocketing massive sums of money. He sees the early days of the opioid epidemic. 
The comparison is not an exaggeration, Keenan insists, and sports betting companies are using the same playbook deployed by those that recklessly sold drugs like OxyContin. 
“They target these people, knowing that they are addicted, and they make most of their money off of those that are addicted. And they do it with very aggressive marketing, much like Purdue Pharma did,” Keenan told Boston.com. 

- March 31, 2025 - CBS Boston – New bill introduced by lawmaker would set limits on sports betting in Massachusetts.
Sports betting in Massachusetts is big business, but now, lawmakers are proposing a new bill aimed at setting restrictions on sports gambling. 
It’s called “Bettor Health Act” and State Senator John Keenan is leading the charge. 
“It’s a multi-billion-dollar business that is growing every single day. Now, what I’m hearing from people is that they feel that they can’t even watch a sporting event without something come up relative to placing a bet. And they feel that it is too much,” Sen Keenan said. 

- March 28, 2025 - Masslive – It’s batter up on Beacon Hill to fight sports gambling addiction.
Sports betting generated $65.5 million in taxable revenue (retail and online) in February alone, according to Massachusetts Gaming Commission data. 
That’s down from the eye-watering $94.4 million that was reported to the state in January. But it’s still a huge chunk of change.

And it’s raising red flags among state lawmakers, who are concerned about problem gambling — particularly among young people.

Legislation sponsored by Sen. John F. Keenan, D-Norfolk/Plymouth, would slap higher taxes on the industry and tackle those in-game “prop” bets that public health experts say hastens people down the road to addiction.

- March 27, 2025 NBC Boston – Should Mass. have tighter rules around sports gambling? New bill would impose strict limits.
A new bill being proposed by a group of Massachusetts lawmakers aims to set strict new limits on sports gambling.

Sen. John Keenan, of Quincy, pitched his “Bettor Health Act” at a forum Wednesday at the State House. The bill seeks to increase the tax rate on online betting platforms, ban sports betting advertising during game broadcasts, require online sports betting companies to double their financial contributions to the state’s Public Health Trust Fund, and more. He likened the rise of online betting to the emergence of the opioid crisis.

“If we don’t see the similarities, we’re going to find ourselves again so far behind trying so hard to create an infrastructure to address it,” Keenan said about the need to start addressing the problem before it gets out of hand.

- March 26, 2025 - The Boston Globe – March 26, 2025 - Mass. lawmakers propose sweeping new limits on sports gambling
At a forum Wednesday on Beacon Hill, legislators and people recovering from gambling addiction raised concerns that regulations have failed to keep pace with technological sophistication of online gaming platforms, which are inundating the sports airwaves with ads. Several speakers drew parallels with the early stages of the opioid crisis, when drug companies like Purdue Pharma used aggressive marketing strategies to peddle powerful painkillers well after they were known to be highly addictive.

“If we don’t heed the lessons of the opioid epidemic, we will find ourselves in the very, very same situation,” said state Senator John Keenan, a Quincy Democrat who introduced the bill. “And if we don’t get out ahead of it, we will have a public health crisis.”

If passed, the law would make sports betting in Massachusetts the most heavily regulated in the country, with unprecedented limits on how much and how often people could wager online, according to representatives of the gambling industry.

- March 17, 2025 - The Boston Globe – Here’s how your state legislators responded to our public records survey. 
“The Massachusetts Legislature generally should be subject to our state’s public records law. With that said, I do believe there should be certain exceptions to ensure legislators are able to create policy without the concern that the exchange of critical and creative thought will be prematurely considered an official public stance or policy. I believe as well there should be an exception for any personal information from constituent services cases.

“Much like my stance regarding applicability of the public records law to the Legislature, I believe the governor’s office should be subject to the same requirements and granted the same exceptions.”

Keenan said he has “no specific comments on the judiciary as it is too far removed from my own experiences and responsibilities for me to render an informed opinion.”

- February 2025  - WRPS Rockand - Interview -Senator Keenan talks with WRPS host Seth Rosczewski about sports betting, Senate rules and transparency, Rockland Fire Department hiring, the Emergency Shelter program, the MBTA Communities Act, and a whole lot more.

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- February 2025  - Hanover Community Television - Interview -Senator Keenan talks with Hanover Community Television host Katherine Fitzgerald about migrants, sports betting, election worker protections, missing persons, possible federal funding cuts, and a whole lot more.

- February 2025  - Abington Cam - Community Chat -Senator Keenan talks with Abington Cam Community Chat host Kevin Tocci about local Abington and statewide issues. - January 13, 2025 - Boston Globe  - February 2025  - Quincy Access Television

- February 2025 - State View -Senator Keenan talks with QATV host Mark Crosby about the substance use disorder bill, youth vaping, transparency, sports wagering act and more.

- January 21, 2025 - MassLive – New Massachusetts sports betting bill includes massive tax hike and ban on live betting
Massachusetts sports betting could look completely different if a new bill proposed in the Senate is successful. And if history is any indication, that could mean regulated sports betting in other states could also change drastically.

The measure is SD 1657 and was presented by Sen. John Keenan. Dubbed “An Act Addressing Economic, Health, and Social Harms Caused by Sports Betting,” the measure aims to increase the current sports betting tax rate from 20% to 51%. Additionally, Sen. Keenan is calling for a complete ban on live betting (in-game wagering) and prop bets.

- January 13, 2025 - Boston Globe - Mass. Senate isn’t transparent. Here’s how to fix that. Our ‘business as usual’ risks public faith. 
Change is necessary. If the public cannot trust how we make our laws, how can they trust the laws we make?

- January 8, 2025 - Commonwealth Magazine - Keenan’s stand for transparency 
"Yet the 60-year-old lawmaker caused a minor stir last week when he was the only Democratic state senator who did not vote to reelect Karen Spilka as Senate president. Keenan voted “present” in the roll call to choose a leader for the new two-year session. In a statement he issued after the vote, Keenan said he held back support for Spilka “because changes are needed” in how the Senate goes about its business. 

The changes he wants would hardly seem to constitute a radical remake of a deliberative legislative body charged with carrying out the people’s business in a representative democracy. But Keenan’s views – and willingness to rock the boat to make his point – made him stand out in a Legislature that has become increasingly inclined to operate out of public view and has seemed to thumb its nose at long-standing calls for greater transparency and public accountability.

- January 5, 2025 - Boston Herald - "Beacon Hill witnessed something rare this past week."
"A Democratic state senator from Quincy publicly rebuked Senate President Karen Spilka’s reelection to the chamber’s top leadership post. Sen. John Keenan opted to vote “present” during Spilka’s reascension to the Senate President’s Office because of what he said were the branch’s poor marks on transparency."