To this end, the MGC will now seek to involve sportsbooks in the process of helping researchers better understand gambling addiction and disorder by providing relevant data that can help advance scientific understanding of the issues.
Leveraging Data to Tackle Big Issues
The regulator is confident that the massive troves of data that regulated sportsbooks work with in the regulated gambling market would prove pivotal in helping researchers and lawmakers draft guidelines and measures that can help tackle problem gambling while also promoting the principles of responsible gambling in the Bay State.
This is still a proposal more so than an official requirement, but the idea already enjoys backing from Eileen O’Brien, MGC’s commissioner. The Bay State is currently not the worst place when it comes to gambling addiction, with the rate of gambling disorders in the state ranking 25th nationwide.
Meanwhile, people are already starting to register with the state’s self-exclusion program, with some 40 people already enrolled. These numbers are bound to go up. As the numbers of problem gamblers in the Bay State increase, though, the MGC and commissioner O’Brien are keen to see more done – and in particular, to see sportsbooks do more.
The collection of data and forwarding it to the relevant research group could have a significant impact on how the state addresses and regulates gambling, creating mechanisms and safeguards that protect consumers in innovative and previously unthought-of ways.
Massachusetts may also be a trailblazer as there is not a single state in the US as of right now that has sought to collect data from sportsbooks for the purposes of leveraging in-depth research work. The Bay State may be an outlier in how it approaches the matter as a whole.
Massachusetts Is Determined to Lead the Way
The state seems confident in bringing relevant solutions and thinking way outside of the box. Massachusetts is already acting against sportsbooks and licensed operators that have been coloring outside the lines, with disciplinary action now mulled against MGM and Wynn Resorts.
Some operators have already butted heads with the regulator over alleged failings and promoting gambling products to the wrong audiences.