Mass. Gaming Commission settles suit, opens casino data

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission resolved a lawsuit brought by the Public Health Advocacy Institute and began providing anonymized player-tracking data from the state’s three commercial casinos to qualified researchers. The commission launched an online application portal and contracted a university to anonymize and store the data.

PHAI filed the suit in July 2024, alleging the commission had not complied with Section 97 of the 2011 Expanded Gaming Act. The statute requires casino operators to collect player-tracking data and the regulator to make anonymized versions available to researchers. PHAI asked a court for a writ of mandamus or a declaration that the commission had failed to meet its legal duties.

The commission contracted with the University of Massachusetts in 2025 to handle data storage and the removal of personal information. In July 2026 the regulator opened its application process for qualified researchers. The commission’s website now hosts a live application page and a public summary of the player data dictionary; approved researchers receive the full dictionary for their work.

The available anonymized fields include player demographics, loyalty program identifiers, session start and end times, wager amounts, average bets, win and loss figures, jackpot activity, game characteristics and other behavioral metrics collected across the three casinos.

Researchers who obtain access must submit reports to the commission as required by the statute. The reports are intended to inform future regulation and public-health strategies related to problem gambling.

PHAI’s litigation director, Andrew Rainer, said the commission began collecting, anonymizing and storing data after the organization filed suit. PHAI attorney Jacob Wolk wrote, “Mission accomplished!” and confirmed the group would ask the court to dismiss the case now that the statutory objectives have been met.

PHAI has called on state lawmakers to require similar anonymized data collection from sports betting operators. Executive Director Mark Gottlieb pointed to the Bettor Health Act, a bill that advanced out of committee earlier this year and would expand data collection, ban certain college proposition bets, require affordability checks and restrict some sportsbook marketing practices; the bill has not progressed further.

The case is one of several legal actions PHAI has pursued. The organization continues a class action against DraftKings in Massachusetts alleging deceptive sportsbook promotions and has filed suits in Pennsylvania alleging problematic promotion terms and marketing that encourage addictive betting behavior. Defendants in some of those cases have moved to dismiss portions of the complaints.

The dispute traces to the opening of Massachusetts’ first casino in 2015. According to PHAI’s complaint, the commission did not begin collecting player-tracking data after that opening and had not done so after all three commercial casinos were operating by 2019. After the commission implemented the data collection, anonymization and access processes, PHAI agreed on July 23, 2026, to seek dismissal of the lawsuit.