Despite the often bumpy launch of gaming in Massachusetts since its legislature approved the 2011 act expanding gaming and authorizing three casino resorts and one slots parlor, some take its approach as the gold standard for how gaming should be handled.
Online Poker Report concedes the Bay State’s gaming story never lacks for excitement. What with the 2014 attempt to repeal legalization by referendum. Or the just completed yearlong investigation of Wynn Resorts Ltd. that led to the record $35 million fine against it by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. All of which derived from sexual allegations against former CEO and founder Steve Wynn, and the company executives’ less than sterling record in dealing with them.
It also notes the inability of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe to build its $1 billion casino in Taunton; lawsuits against the commission, and resignation by the first MGC Chairman Stephen Crosby last year after he was accused of bias.
All those things aside, the report notes that the Bay State’s gaming approach is unique. It has a three-branched approach that keeps track of the economic and social impacts of expanded gaming, investing in local communities, and an approach for dealing with problem gambling that is considered a model for the rest of the country.
Once the law was adopted, it mandated that the state begin collecting data on problem gaming, bankruptcies, crime, traffic etc. before the casinos were ever built so that this could be compared to the status quo once they were in operation.
This research is a continuing effort led by the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public Health & Health Sciences, which periodically delivers a report entitled Social and Economic Impacts of Gambling in Massachusetts (SEIGMA) to the commission.
When the commission was reviewing casino proposals, it required the potential developers to meet criteria for size and scope and to win the approval of host communities with the “best” proposals.
This has allowed host communities to negotiate the best deals with casino companies, including investment in infrastructure, revenue sharing and requiring annual payments.
Plainville’s Plainridge Park Casino, a slots parlor, was the test case for the process. The city’s voters approved of the casino in 2014 and it has been operating for a couple of years now. Money from the casino has funded a $34 million Town Hall and Public Safety Building complex. The local newspaper reported that the casino “brought revenue, employment and spending, though no measurable increase in people seeking treatment for problem gambling, personal bankruptcy filings, divorce and separations or suicides.”
Massachusetts’ pioneering programs to fight problem gambling are called PlayMyWay and GameSense. The first program enables players to set “budgets” for themselves and get warnings as they near their limits. When they reach the limit the slot machine asks if they want to continue. GameSense offers “judgment-free” education so players can make informed decisions about “when to gamble, when to stop, and how much to spend.”
The latter is getting good reviews for encouraging casino operators to refer players to get help with gambling addiction. Recently, one of the senior people who operate the GameSense program told the commission, “Honestly, I cried. Never in my 22 years in this business would I have ever believed that an executive host — a guy who lives off getting people to play, that’s his business — was willing to drop off one of his best accounts to me because he felt it was the right thing to do.”
An article reported that 10 of 15 people who voluntarily excluded themselves did so after MGM Springfield staff referred them to GameSense.
