Mass. Gaming Commission eyes advertising limit as sports betting grows closer – MassLive.com

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission pledged Thursday to scrutinize gambling advertising after hearing the latest recommendations from a six-year University of Massachusetts study of gambling behavior and in preparation for legalized sports betting coming to the state.

At the same meeting, regulators said MGM Springfield plans to reopen its poker rooms on Oct. 29.

Commissioners meeting Thursday via video conference also referenced the prevalence of sports gambling advertising on television during network broadcasts of playoff baseball.

The UMass report the Massachusetts Gambling Impact Cohort, or MAGIC, study recommended among other things that the government limit advertising, especially in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods or to groups that may be at increased risk of problem gambling.

Commissioners Gayle Cameron said the only time the Gaming Commission got involved in regulating advertising was when it had MGM Springfield tone down plans for its animated billboard. That enforcement was prior to the 2018 opening .

Other recommendations include creating more publicity around the states voluntary exclusion program where people who fear their gambling is out of control can exclude themselves from the casino floor automated alerts if a persons gambling behavior escalates, further restricting access to ATMs at casinos and making ATM exclusion programs, where people could lock themselves out of Casino locations, more accessible.

Massachusetts already bans automated teller machines from the casino floor and from as far as 15 away from the gimbling floor.

Principal Investigator and UMass Amherst Professor Rachel Volberg said the good news from the study is that people change their gambling behavior over time, moving. The non-gambler and recreational gambler populations are the most stable. But people move from problem gambler to at-risk and back down the ladder.

All it takes is purchasing a lottery ticket, or going to a casino one time in the last year, Volberg said.

And these transition points are access points where public health officials can influence behavior.

There is very little thats known, actually, about the impact of advertising on gambling behavior, she sai .

For the study, researchers surveyed the same 3,000 or so residents five times over six years. The initial survey was in 2013 and 14, before the opening of the states first slot parlor at Plainridge Park Casino.

Subsequent interviews happened annually before and after the opening of the states two large resort-casinos MGM Springfield in August 2018 and Boston Encore in June 2019.

We wanted to identify demographic groups at risk of experiencing gambling-related problems, Volberg said. And finally, we highlighted the risk and protective factors important in developing effective prevention and treatment programs and policies to support player health.

Volberg said two other two findings she found particularly interesting.

There was a significant decrease in out-of-state gambling by Massachusetts residents after the casinos opened in Massachusetts.

Researchers also saw an increase in problem gambling behavior before MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor opened.

Researchers concluded that problem gamblers whod quit suffered relapses due to the publicity surrounding a casino opening.

It appears that the media coverage, advertising and general publicity about the pending openings precipitated relapse and may be equally if not more important than the actual increase in physical availability of gambling, Volberg said in a news release.

The study has concluded nut Volberg expressed hope that the Gaming Commission could fund another check-in with the study s subjects.