Amendment #27 to H4743

Aligning Sports Wagering Oversight with Gaming Oversight to Understand Gambling Habits

Mr. Scanlon of North Attleborough moves to amend the bill by adding the following section:

"SECTION XXXX. Subsection (d) of section 4 of chapter 23N of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2022 Official Edition, is hereby amended by adding the following paragraph:-

(4) (i) Notwithstanding any general or special law or rule or regulation to the contrary, a sports wagering operator shall supply the Massachusetts gaming commission with customer tracking data collected or generated by loyalty programs, player tracking software, player card systems, online gambling transactions or any other information system. The commission shall contract with an experienced nonprofit research entity no later than March 31st 2025 to develop an anonymizing system that automatically removes from the data: (a) personally identifying information, including player name, street address, bank or credit information and the last 4 digits of a player’s ZIP+4 code, in compliance with section 2 of chapter 93H of the General Laws; and (b) game identifying information, including game name and device manufacturing company, in protection of corporate intellectual property. The data shall retain information on player characteristics including, but not limited to, gender, age and region of residence, player behavior including, but not limited to, frequency of play, length of play, speed of play, denomination of play, amounts wagered and, if applicable, number of lines or hands played and characteristics of games played including, but not limited to, reel configuration, return-to-player or RTP, volatility index and denomination. The commission shall convey the anonymized data to a research facility which shall make the data available to qualified researchers for the purposes of: (1) conducting analyses that improve understanding of how gambling addiction develops and progresses; (2) developing evidence-based harm minimization strategies; and (3) developing evidence-based systems to monitor, detect and intervene in high-risk gambling. The commission shall request reports on research analyses of the behavioral data, which could provide informed recommendation to the general court relative to more effective regulation of gambling operations. The commission may directly initiate studies assessing the effectiveness of any specific measures, programs or interventions which the commonwealth has implemented in gaming operations and which might be illuminated through the behavioral data in question.

(ii) The commission shall make a concerted, good faith effort to implement such evidence-based harm minimization strategies and evidence-based systems to monitor, detect and intervene in high-risk gambling, and to act on the recommendations made in reports and studies produced pursuant to this section.  The commission shall also deliver all such reports, studies, and recommendations to the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies.”

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #27 to H4743

Aligning Sports Wagering Oversight with Gaming Oversight to Understand Gambling Habits