​​Long-stalled gambling data project moves forward in Massachusetts

Morning view of the Encore Boston Harbor casino along the Mystic River in Everett, Mass. (Getty image)

Massachusetts gaming regulators are moving forward with a data collection project dealing with problem gambling that’s been on ice for almost a decade.

Gaming commissioners last week described the project’s progress as “miraculous,” navigating many moving parts and start-stops over the last 13 years.

When Massachusetts casino gambling was legalized in 2011, the enabling law included a requirement that casinos supply the commission with data collected from player loyalty programs. That data in hand, the commission would then need to contract with researchers to anonymize and analyze it and then use the information to develop strategies to minimize high-risk gambling behavior.

Researchers should be aiming to better detect and intervene in risky gambling behavior, Mark Vander Linden, the MassGaming director of research and responsible gaming, said at an open meeting last week.

A report this year from UMass Amherst’s School of Public Health and Health Sciences reviewed problem gambling since casinos were introduced in 2015, concluding that the prevalence of problem and at-risk gambling has not significantly changed, based on player surveys through the gaming commission. The player loyalty data sets would offer much more detail on gambling behavior.

“It will help us to better understand problem gambling – how it progresses, how it remits – it will allow us to create evidence-informed policies and regulations,” Vander Linden said. “None of that escapes us. We take that very seriously. But this is a very complex project, and we want to make sure that we do this right. And so we are moving this project forward. There’s a lot of work that has been done, and certainly there’s more work to be done, but we’re confident that this is on track and moving forward.”

Three years after the statute – Section 97 of Chapter 194 of the Acts of 2011 – took effect, the gaming commission decided to delay implementing the project “until all Massachusetts casinos were operational, due to concerns about competitive disadvantage amongst competitors,” Vander Linden said.

The whole of the gaming commission has turned over since the project was put on hold in 2014. Some steps to lay the groundwork began after the Plainridge Park casino opened but before the MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor swung open their doors, Vander Linden said, picking up in earnest in mid-2023.

“One of the things I think that needs to be emphasized is sort of the complexity of housing the data and what a challenge that has been,” Commissioner Eileen O’Brien said. O’Brien said she is happy that the research division is now in a position to put out a request for information for possible vendors, which was released one day before the open meeting.

“Building a system to anonymize, transmit, and link casino player data and make it accessible to qualified researchers requires thoughtful consideration of ethics, law, privacy, security, and technical considerations,” the commission wrote in releasing the RFI. “This also includes ensuring an open, equitable, and transparent process for identifying partners with whom to engage in this work.”

The project was put off initially so that the nascent casino industry could settle in, commissioners noted, but then the pandemic created additional delays.

“I think people sometimes forget that COVID-19 was a very harsh reality to the world that changed things and was a roadblock to many things moving forward for two to three years,”  said Commissioner Brad Hill. He said the tenacity of the researchers during the last decade bodes well for the end result.

“Government doesn’t work overnight,” Hill said. “It takes time, and if anything I’ve learned from this agency is that we take our time, and we give you the best product available. And when this is all said and done, this is going to be one of the best products put out in America.”

This article first appeared on CommonWealth Beacon and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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