![\"US](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SDUPOKTKWBFDFK2AHYOP6OP6NQ.jpg\")
An ad for the GameSense program at the MGM Springfield casino, which is one part of Massachusetts responsible gaming approach.Karen Brown\/NEPM<\/p>\n\u201cHigh Stakes: Gambling Addiction, Beyond Borders\u201d is a three-part series by New England Public Media looking at the public health movement to address gambling in Massachusetts and the United States, and what can be learned from two countries with very different models of gambling regulation: Norway and the United Kingdom. This is part three of that series.<\/p>\n
A few hundred feet into the MGM Springfield casino floor, visitors can find the \u201cGameSense\u201d office, where, amid the loud clanging of slot machines and table games, an employee often stands alone at a desk.<\/p>\n
They offer swag to get people to stop by \u2014 tissue boxes, luggage tags \u2014 and are happy to explain how gambling odds work. If anyone feels they need help reining in their gambling, brochures with the state\u2019s helpline number are stacked on the counter.<\/p>\n
An ad for the GameSense program at the MGM Springfield casino, which is one part of Massachusetts responsible gaming approach.Karen Brown\/NEPM<\/p>\n
The GameSense program has been a centerpiece of Massachusetts\u2019 approach to reducing gambling problems, along with Play My Way, a program that allows people to set their own time and money limits in the state\u2019s casinos and with online sportsbooks.<\/p>\n
The programs focus on the 10% of the population that researchers at UMass Amherst<\/a> estimate either has a gambling disorder or is at risk of one.<\/p>\n But with no national commission on gambling nor nationwide gambling policy, Massachusetts \u2014 like every state \u2014 is on its own to come up with ways to curb gambling disorders. And many addiction experts think the states could do better.<\/p>\n A growing number of health and policy makers say it\u2019s time to take bolder \u2014 and more unified \u2014 action, especially since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized sports betting in 2018 and unleashed an aggressive new industry, now legal in 39 states. (Forty-eight states have legalized at least some form of gambling, including lotteries.)<\/p>\n \u201cAll (addictions) except gambling have some kind of intervention by the government to impose some constraints and provide some protection,\u201d Democratic U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said. \u201cThe sophistication and complexity of betting has become staggering. And that\u2019s why we need \u2026 protections that will enable an individual to say no.\u201d<\/p>\n Blumenthal and U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko, a New York Democrat, have filed the Safe Bet Act<\/a>, legislation that would impose federal standards on all sports betting companies. Among those regulations: no advertising during live sporting events, mandatory \u201caffordability checks\u201d on high-spending customers, limits on VIP schemes, a ban on A.I. tracking for marketing and the creation of a national \u201cself-exclusion\u201d database.<\/p>\n \u201cGambling is a nationwide activity. States are unable to protect their consumers from the promotions and pitches, the excessive and abusive offers \u2014 and sometimes misleading pitches \u2014 to gamblers from out of state,\u201d Blumenthal said. \u201cAnd [states] simply don\u2019t have the resources or the jurisdiction legally to provide the full protection that\u2019s necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n The fallout, according to Jonathan Cohen, author of the book \u201cLosing Big: America\u2019s Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling,\u201d is putting new generations at risk.<\/p>\n \u201cThe landmines are placed in front of young people,\u201d Cohen said, \u201cand if they don\u2019t know any better \u2026 they step on gambling as a landmine and it just blows up in their face and they don\u2019t even know what happened to them.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Responsible gaming\u2019 vs. \u2018public health\u2019<\/p>\n The gambling industry has come out strongly against the Safe Bet Act.<\/p>\n Joe Maloney, a spokesperson for the American Gaming Association, calls the very concept of federal gambling standards a \u201cslap in the face\u201d to state regulators across the country.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have the potential to just dramatically, one, usurp the states\u2019 authority and then, two, freeze the industry in place,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Maloney said the industry acknowledges that gambling is addictive for some people, but he said it has already developed its own solutions through a model called \u201cresponsible gaming.\u201d That includes messages warning people to stop playing when it\u2019s no longer fun and entertaining, public education about the low odds of striking it rich and supporting access to treatment for those with gambling disorders.<\/p>\n Maloney said there is no need for new federal rules on how companies can offer or advertise their products online or in casinos, which he said would only benefit the unregulated, illegal gambling market.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are certain stakeholders that are pretending to represent a certain type of player as a rationale for a one-size-fits-all protection,\u201d Maloney said.<\/p>\n But proponents of the Safe Bet Act say the industry\u2019s \u201cresponsible gaming\u201d model has failed.<\/p>\n Harry Levant, the director of gambling policy at the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University in Boston, calls the model \u201cethically and scientifically flawed.\u201d He said it puts all the blame and responsibility on individuals with a gambling disorder.<\/p>\n Levant, who helped write the Safe Bet Act, was addicted to gambling himself. A former lawyer, he was convicted in 2015 for stealing clients\u2019 money to fund his betting habit. He is also an addiction therapist. He explained that you can\u2019t just tell a person struggling with addiction, \u201cJust don\u2019t do that anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou need regulation when the industry has shown an inability and unwillingness to police itself,\u201d Levant said. \u201cIt\u2019s the moral equivalent of Big Tobacco saying, \u2018Let us do whatever we want for our cigarettes, as long as we pay for chemotherapy and hospice.\u2019 We wouldn\u2019t tolerate it with tobacco. We don\u2019t tolerate it with alcohol.\u201d<\/p>\n Public Health Advocacy Institute Executive Director Mark Gottlieb said \u201cresponsible gaming\u201d targets people who have already suffered great harm, while a public health approach, such as limiting what products can be offered and how, is \u201cpreventing people from experiencing that harm in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n But Gottlieb acknowledged that new federal regulations could be a hard sell in today\u2019s political climate. If the Safe Bet Act doesn\u2019t pass under this Congress, he is hoping states choose to take strong action on their own.<\/p>\n \u2018Stop the worst excesses of sports betting\u2019<\/p>\n Massachusetts gambling regulators declined to comment on any legislation \u2014 neither the Safe Bet Act nor a pending state bill<\/a> that would limit gambling options.<\/p>\n But they say they have come a long way since the state legalized casinos in 2011, when the approach to problem gambling was \u201cmuch more about making sure that there are brochures that are available that explained the odds of whatever game it was,\u201d according to Mark Vander Linden, who runs the responsible gaming division of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.<\/p>\n The commission says 64,000 people are currently signed up for a Play My Way account, though only a small percentage choose to set personal limits on time and money spent gambling. About 2,300 people have put themselves on a statewide \u201cself-exclusion\u201d list that bans them from one or all forms of legalized betting for a period of time.<\/p>\n Vander Linden said his office is now adapting to the new risks of online sports betting, which lawmakers legalized in Massachusetts in 2022. His team is seeking technology that gives gamblers more ways to curb their play, including software that disables gambling apps on phones and methods to track any uptick in gambling habits.<\/p>\n He said they are also designing research to learn \u201cthe science of being able to identify triggers or patterns of risky gambling behavior,\u201d as well as which interventions would change that behavior.<\/p>\n State Rep. Lindsay Sabadosa, D-Northampton, wants to give regulators even more tools.<\/p>\n Sabodosa is co-sponsor of the Bettor Health Act<\/a>, which, like the federal Safe Bet Act, would require affordability checks and advertising limits. It would tax gambling companies at a higher rate and direct additional money to the Massachusetts\u2019 public health trust fund for treatment and prevention.<\/p>\n The law would also ban \u201cprop\u201d bets, which are wagers placed during a game on a variety of game-related events \u2014 who makes the first shot in basketball, for example, or who hits the first home run in baseball.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s encouraging excessive gambling,\u201d Sabadosa said. \u201cYou can win and lose, like, from one second to the next.\u201d<\/p>\n Sabadosa also thinks affordability checks, like those that exist in the United Kingdom, can act as a financial safety net.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re only allowed to have two drinks, we know that you\u2019re not going to get drunk, right?\u201d she said. \u201cIf you\u2019re only allowed to gamble $100 a day because that\u2019s an affordable amount, you\u2019re not going to go broke.\u201d<\/p>\n The American Gaming Association declined to give its position on affordability checks but did say it opposes a ban on prop bets.<\/p>\n \u201cA prop bet is a very, very popular form of betting. It provides for an increased level of engagement,\u201d Maloney, the American Gaming Association spokesperson, said. \u201cIf you suddenly start to pick and choose what can be legal or banned \u2026 you\u2019re driving bettors out of the legal market and into the illegal market.\u201d<\/p>\n Sabadosa doesn\u2019t accept that position.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve heard that argument from the cannabis industry, too. \u2018Don\u2019t regulate us because then people will go to the black market,\u2019\u201d Sabadosa said. \u201cBut at the end of the day, if you\u2019re going to have a legal market, it does need to be protected. That is the whole point of having this legal market.\u201d<\/p>\n She added that the goal is not to stop gambling entirely. \u201cIt\u2019s to stop the worst excesses of online sports betting.\u201d<\/p>\n Many public health advocates say passing any legislation that restricts the growth of gambling won\u2019t be easy \u2014 not least due to industry lobbying. The watchdog organization OpenSecrets reports<\/a> gambling companies spent almost $40 million nationally on lobbying in 2024. In Massachusetts, 30 gaming-related companies spent a combined $2.7 million lobbying state lawmakers last year, according to state lobbying disclosures<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sportsbooks really benefited from the diffuse nature of sports betting and from the fact that we have 50 states and 50 laws about gambling,\u201d Cohen said, \u201cbecause they were able to show up at every different legislature and sort of run roughshod over them with their money, their lobbying, to get the sort of laws they wanted on the books.\u201d<\/p>\n At the same time, many state legislators are tempted by the promise of new revenue from expanded gambling, said Harry Levant of the Public Health Advocacy Institute. He\u2019s concerned that could launch the \u201ci-gaming\u201d industry \u2014 online roulette, blackjack and other casino-style games \u2014 which is currently legal in only seven states.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have empathy for how hard it is for states to balance their budgets in this current political environment,\u201d he said, \u201cbut states are starting to recognize the answer to that problem is not to further push a known addictive product.\u201d<\/p>\n What could convince lawmakers to restrain the gambling market, Mark Gottlieb said, is a groundswell of advocacy from friends and family of people with gambling addiction, the same way that Mothers Against Drunk Driving pushed for blood alcohol limits on the road.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is really the thing that has been missing from this movement,\u201d Gottlieb said.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, industry critics are not waiting for legislation to pass; they are also turning to the courts. In June, the Public Health Advocacy Institute sued<\/a> Caesars Online Casino and Harrah\u2019s Philadelphia casino over what it calls a \u201cpredatory\u201d promotion designed to \u201csnare\u201d consumers into more gambling. The city of Baltimore<\/a> is suing several sportsbooks for their aggressive marketing practices.<\/p>\n And Cohen said simply publicizing the risks of gambling \u2014 in a way that young people will notice \u2014 can work too.<\/p>\n \u201cSo whatever sort of counter programming that can be provided to Jamie Foxx playing piano and telling you that gambling is cool, I think that would be the place to start,\u201d Cohen said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have to wait for government to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n This project was supported by a grant from the Association of Health Care Journalists, with funding from The Commonwealth Fund. It was edited by Dusty Christensen, with help from Elizabeth Rom\u00e1n.<\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cHigh Stakes: Gambling Addiction, Beyond Borders\u201d is a three-part series by New England Public Media looking at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4317],"tags":[105,218,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-253932","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mental-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-mental-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114829909713208979","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"US](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/PJGBTJUAHRCIZK4MVNY4UE2H7A.jpg\")
A slot machine at the MGM Springfield casino.Karen Brown\/NEPM<\/p>\n![\"US](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/UW6G5ILAKNEZXDQSFEVQHAIUDI.jpg\")
Harry Levant (left) and Mark Gottlieb with the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University in Boston. They are advocating for stronger gambling regulations across the country.Karen Brown\/NEPM<\/p>\n![\"US](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/45LI7RUL7FDJZNQTXHOQDIVPIM.jpg\")
Customers at MGM can watch sports while betting at the sportsbook window.Karen Brown\/NEPM<\/p>\n![\"US](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/XEGGA6AO25DIBBSUGIPV4KX4KM.jpg\")
A slot machine at the MGM Springfield casino.Karen Brown\/NEPM<\/p>\n