A battle between the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) and Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) over the state’s gaming data is heating up with a recent filing with the Massachusetts Superior Court. It’s the culmination of a multi-year battle that pits two powerful agencies against each other in a battle over consumer data.
The PHAI is accusing the MGC of withholding and/or not properly collecting casino patron data going back to the pre-Pandemic era. For its part, the MGC says it’s been trying to comply with PHAI’s requests, but has been hampered by events beyond its control such as the Covid Pandemic (which started in March, 2020).
In its filing with the court, the PHAI says that it requested the data from the MGC in 2022 and again in February of this year. Both times the agency was stonewalled and researchers were left with nothing to research. They’re now requesting that the court give the MGC 90 days to cough up the data.
PHAI Executive Director, Mark Gottlieb spelled out the issue in a recent press release saying, “The requirement for the Gaming Commission to make this important research data available has been in place since the day the Commission was created more than a decade ago. All of our casinos have been operating for half a decade and only now–after two years of nudging from PHAI–the Commission finally claims to be getting closer to meeting its obligations.”
Dr. Harry Levant, PHAI Director of Gambling Policy spelled out the importance of the data adding, “The lessons that this data might teach us would be important to better regulate gambling in Massachusetts and wherever these casino games are available.”
The MGC has 20 days to respond to the filing before the case takes its next step.