Page 4 - BusinessWest October 3, 2022

4 OCTOBER 3, 2022
FEATURE
BusinessWest
At the Goal Line
Sports Betting Is Legalized in Massachusetts, but the Benefits Are Uncertain
With 35 other states having done so already, Massachusetts lawmakers were eager to pass a bill this summer legalizing sports betting, and Gov. Charlie Baker followed suit, signing it into law. Now comes the hard work by the Gaming Commission to establish a framework and scores of regulations — and the continuing research into a recreational activity that brings a still-uncertain level of economic benefit, alongside some well- established social risks.
R
research the potential impacts of casinos.
“We’ve kept a pretty careful eye on things, but only a few
U.S. states have any funding in their legislation to conduct research, so we know surprisingly little about the social
and economic impacts of betting in the United States as a whole,” she told BusinessWest, and that’s even more true when it comes to legalized sports betting, which Massachu- setts recently became the 36th state to legalize.
A research professor in the UMass Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences, for the past decade Volberg has been the principal investigator with Social and Economic Impacts of Gambling in Massachusetts (SEIG- MA), whose latest report — the first of its kind in the nation — deals with the potential impact of legal sports gambling in the Bay State. And if the picture is still uncertain, it’s com- ing into focus.
“I think the biggest surprise for us was how little research
By Joseph Bednar
“
states have any funding in their legislation to conduct research, so we know surprisingly little about the social and economic impacts of betting in the United States as a
”
achel Volberg has been researching
the effects of gambling for almost four decades, and since 2013, she’s been doing it at the behest of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC), which selected her team a decade ago to
Only a few U.S.
whole.