Massachusetts Gaming Commission releases player data
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has begun sharing anonymized casino player data with researchers, meeting a requirement written into the state's 2011 Expanded Gaming Act and resolving a lawsuit brought by the Public Health Advocacy Institute. PHAI sued in 2024 after the regulator failed to start collection.
The law obliges casino operators to collect loyalty programme data and the MGC to pass it to qualified researchers in de-identified form. The purpose is to study gambling behaviour and build measures against problem gambling. Massachusetts' first casino opened in 2015 and all three commercial properties were running by 2019, but the commission had not begun collecting. After the suit was filed, the MGC contracted the University of Massachusetts to store and anonymize the data, and in July 2025 a portal for researcher applications went live on the regulator's site. The material covers demographics, loyalty programme activity, session times, wagers, wins and losses, jackpots and game characteristics from the state's three casinos. PHAI withdrew the case.
PHAI turns to sportsbooks
The institute now wants the same treatment for sportsbooks. Sports betting has been legal in Massachusetts since 2023, and PHAI executive director Mark Gottlieb said the organisation will work with legislators on data collection from betting operators. He named the Bettor Health Act, a bill from Senator John Keenan that would expand data collection, ban college sports betting and restrict sportsbook marketing. It cleared committee and stalled.
PHAI is in court elsewhere too: against DraftKings in Massachusetts over misleading promotions, against Caesars and Harrah's in Pennsylvania over a bonus that requires wagering up to $375,000 in seven days, and against DraftKings, FanDuel, Genius Sports and NFL over live micro-betting products.
