Last 12 months, as the talk over legalizing sports activities betting performed out on Beacon Hill, it was tempting to ask why that individual subject was commanding a lot consideration whereas different priorities receded into the background or failed to realize traction in any respect.

This week, new data from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission gave us the reply. Interest in sports activities betting is intense, particularly when you are able to do it out of your telephone — which makes it an enormous moneymaker for the events concerned. In March, the primary month through which on-line sports activities betting was authorized within the state, license holders obtained and settled about $570 million in wagers. The overwhelming majority of these — almost $550 million — had been positioned on-line, in comparison with simply $20 million wagered in particular person.

Before authorized sports activities betting grew to become a actuality, proponents identified that the majority of New England had already embraced the business. They additionally famous that taxes on sports activities betting would bolster Massachusetts’ coffers — and positive sufficient, it introduced in additional than $9 million in taxes final month. However, that public profit got here with a a lot greater personal price. The state’s on-line sports activities betting license holders made simply over $48 million in March — cash that used to belong to Massachusetts residents.

Is that tradeoff value it? The reply relies upon, partly, on whether or not you see sports activities betting contributors as rational actors having a little bit of enjoyable, or as simple marks being manipulated by a basically predatory business.

It additionally depends upon what occurs subsequent. Online sports activities betting’s quick begin displays, not less than partly, aggressive promotions through which free “bonus bets” had been awarded to gamers following a low-stakes preliminary wager — on DraftKings, for a time, a $5 wager mechanically gave bettors one other $200 to gamble with. (A gaming fee spokesperson mentioned these free bets are included within the March tally, however could not say what their whole worth was.) It can also have been pushed the sheer novelty of the business and the NCAA basketball tournaments’ March Madness, which has prompted low-stakes wagering by coworkers and associates for many years.

If March was an anomaly, the outflow of money from Massachusetts residents to sports activities betting operators will possible diminish as time goes on. (Before sports activities betting grew to become authorized, estimated tax revenues tended to prime out at $60 million annually.) Then once more, these large March numbers could possibly be an early signal that, for no matter motive, the residents of Massachusetts are extra prepared to guess large, and lose large, on sports activities than anybody anticipated.

If so, may state lawmakers be pressured to rein in the identical business they simply selected to create? Given House Speaker Ron Mariano’s oft-stated assist for sports activities betting, it is exhausting to think about the Legislature doing something that will considerably restrict the business’s potential to function and make a (taxable) revenue.

Even so, ramped-up scrutiny could possibly be coming within the subsequent few months. Attorney General Andrea Campbell identifies herself as a supporter of accountable sports activities betting. Still, even earlier than the March returns had been in, she efficiently pushed the gaming fee to tighten restrictions on the business’s promoting practices. Among different issues, it now requires that operators keep away from promoting to people underneath 21 years previous, and in addition that they supply simple methods to choose out of selling efforts. As extra info is collected, together with who’s putting bets and whether or not reviews of downside playing are proliferating, Campbell and different watchdogs might discover new causes to push for heightened regulation.

In the meantime, all the cash being spent on on-line sports activities betting will possible ramp up stress on state lawmakers to let the Massachusetts Lottery promote its merchandise on-line, too. That shift, which is backed by state Treasurer Deborah Goldberg and House lawmakers, has a brand new supporter in Gov. Maura Healey, who recently told GBH News’ Boston Public Radio that Massachusetts has “a lottery system that right now isn’t able to compete. … The [state] lottery, that’s money coming back to cities and towns.”

Of course, earlier than that lottery cash went again to cities and cities, it belonged to Massachusetts residents who selected to gamble it away. But proper now, any discomfort with the state facilitating that alternative appears to have light.