 Good to go Good morning. This is a convening of the Massachusetts gaming Commission meeting number 511 I'm Jordan Maynard and I'm serving as interim chair of the gaming Commission This meeting is being held virtually using remote collaboration technology. So we will do a roll call Mr. O'Brien, I Am here Morning Commissioner Hill. Good morning. I'm here and good morning Commissioner Skinner. Good morning It's approximately 901 March 28th and now that we finished the roll call. Let's get started The meeting minutes typically I introduced the meeting minutes as secretary But I wanted to bring to the contingent the attention of my fellow commissioners That I did ask legal when I was going through how to set up this process. I Realized I had to call myself and that seemed strange whether or not The statute had Contemplated someone serving as interim chair or chair and secretary. It's unique. I'm not sure we dealt with in the past I did look at the succession plan that Commissioner O'Brien and I put together Last year to see if it was contemplated But the longest short is after talking to legal. I wanted to see what? Executive director and Counselor Grossman had to say about it Good morning. Thank you. Ultimately Commissioners the statute does not of course squarely address this issue It does talk about the chair and then there's a separate section in section 3 chapter 23k that talks about the appointment of the secretary and treasurer My only take on this and I don't think there's a great legal answer to this question necessarily is that we should make sure that There are no incompatible functions that are performed by Commissioner Maynard as interim chair by contemporaneously serving as secretary so Well, I think it would be okay if he did both You may consider at least in this interim period while he's also acting as chair have someone else become the secretary They thank you Todd. I'm happy to do whatever my fellow commissioners thinks is best I I can continue serving as secretary But I also don't want to hit those incompatible functions didn't know if anyone had any thoughts or if they wanted to temporarily do this Chair Maynard, I'm not I'm not jumping up and down to do this at this point but I do realize that I am probably next up not even probably I'm next up on in In Terms of the succession plan so come Honor around to life of team. I'd be taking on this role Anyway should my fellow commissioners Vote that way I defer to you in terms of any functions that you may see as Incompatible with your current interim role But I just did it's a it's I think it's a question for you to answer More than anything Okay, well, let's do this Now that we've got it on the record. Let's go ahead and table these minutes right June 29 and July 10th if everyone's okay, and We can have a discussion on Wednesday how we want to move forward at agenda setting just add that to the list Is that okay? Mr. Chairman you'd have to mark it up as a vote because it's a vote of all of us So you could talk about it agenda But you'd have to bump it and you have to put it on for an item for the next meeting Because it has to be an official vote So we could also I can also mark it up on the agenda right for a vote that day We discussed the issue here Right, but if you want a more fulsome conversation, you'd have to do it Discussion at agenda mark it up for another vote We normally don't have votes at agenda, but there's nothing that bars it. Yeah, that's what I was thinking Mr. Chairman, I actually do not have an issue with you Uh doing your job as secretary for these minutes today that they are before us. We have seen them We have read them. We have no issue. I think voting on them We can have a further discussion on how we would like to move forward After today you brought it up. Thank you But for the for the meeting minutes for today that are before us There's no reason why we would not take them up today. I I don't want to push them off You're okay with that I agree with that. Let's just move on Thank you. Commissioner Skinner. You okay with that for today? All right With that, um, I move I I'll go ahead and make the motion I move that the commission approve the minutes from the june 29 2023 and july 10 2023 public meeting Meetings that are included in the commissioners packet subject to any Uh necessary corrections for typographical errors or other non-material matters second Okay, let's do the roll call commissioner bryan I Mr. Will. Hi And commissioner skinner. Hi And I vote yes for zero Okay, thank you, and I appreciate everyone humoring me on that um We're now going to kick it back to interim executive director and general counsel grossman for an update with research and responsible gaming director mark vanderlinden Todd All right. Good morning. Once again And good morning mark. Welcome back Are you uh, prepared to discuss this legislation this morning? Yes, I thanks. Uh, thank you. Yeah, I'm uh, prepared to give a brief update on the Great app for the gambling addiction recovery investment treatment app Um, just real quick. This was introduced by senator blooming ball of connecticut as Senate bill 35 79 and representative selena support in this hr 69 82 Um as a brief overview, um, there's currently no federal funding nor has there been designated for problem gambling treatment and research Um, the federal government however does levy an excise tax of one quarter of one percent on all monies wagered on sports In the united states currently that's deposited into the general fund Just for some perspective in 2021 That amounted to over 110 million dollars and as you can imagine that will be significantly higher Once it's reported for 2023 um So the great act what it would do is it's the would set aside 50 of the federal excise tax for problem Gambling addiction treatment and research Specifically 75 of that would be distributed to states for problem gambling addiction prevention and treatment through the existing SAMHSA or substance abuse treatment and prevention block grant program and 25 would go through the national institute of drug abuse to fund grants on researching problem gambling Um It provides I think what what is really important massachusetts is very fortunate We have set aside dollars to fund treatment Prevention and our research agenda Um, this is not necessarily the case for a lot of states for most states as a matter of fact So this is could be considered a lifeline of funding that can support problem gambling treatment And I think that It also would provide Allow for significantly more research for the weekend um, so right now The last update is it's kind of making its rounds There is no guarantee that this will will be passed But that's the update as it says right now Thank you for that update mark Do any of the fellow commissioners have any questions of mark? Okay, seeing none Council grossman did you have a comment? No, nothing further. That's that's all we have for you this morning. All right. Well, thank you so much. We appreciate that update Um, the next agenda item Is an update and report on the planned legislative breakfast. Um, commissioner hill Thank you, mr. Chairman. Um, everything is etched in stone invitations have gone out for our april 2nd legislative breakfast Um, it still is going to be in the members lounge between 10 and 11 30 And speaking on behalf of the mass gaming commission To talk about some of the divisions that they oversee will be derrick lenin, joe delaney, mark vandalinden and dr. Light mom We have already gotten quite a nice response from staff as well as legislators So it should be a nice a nice breakfast and looking forward to seeing you all there and Meeting some of our new friends up in the legislature Does anyone have any questions of commissioner hill? Commissioner skinner. I do have a question. Thank you Is this being marked up as a public meeting just trying to understand the parameters? No, not a public meeting And so there's no role no active role for commissioners at this breakfast The only role that one may have is I may just get up and introduce you all and then I will sit right back down again At that point we'll have our executive director on board And I would probably see that he would emcee The event from that point on Any other questions and thank you for that one commissioner skinner For clarifying for the public that it will not be public meeting and public business will not be occurring Um, I do want to thank you commissioner hill for all the work that you've done on this and and others We really appreciate it Thanks. You go out to uh the team that I just read as well as grace and Tom mills for putting this together and Todd grovesman We we have a little a little Little committee that we kind of put together to make sure that this will go off without a hitch and It is that crew that has made that happen Well, that's a good crew. So I'm glad to hear it Um, but that said, um, we're on to number five And that's going to be our i e b. Um, director monahan Carol bryan, um I believe we have dave mckay And then I don't know. Do I see eric? Did I see eric can tell earlier? on here I just want to say um chair. I'm here I just want to say before we start that we would all like to congratulate eric on his newly minted promotion To casino regulatory manager of ppc didn't know if you could say anything eric I just want to thank everybody for the opportunity. Um, it's uh, it's a pleasure working with my team gave the orio hurricane And i'm just trying to transition into it and I thank you very much for mentioning my name today Well, thank you and thank you for serving in this role With that said, I'll kick it over to whoever is leading this conversation under section a Katelyn as per usual. I will turn this right over to uh, director o bryan and dave mckay To lead two matters today one relates to ppc's request for an amendment to a beverage license and the second Is for service registration exemptions Thank you Exactly. Good morning, uh chair and commissioners. I am also going to kick it over to dave to talk About these two items. Oh, thank you. Kara. Uh, good morning. Interim chair and commissioners Before you this morning is a request from plainridge park casino to amend its gaming beverage license specifically for the food court licensed area Previously the food court licensed area contains two food outlets Licensed smash burger neither outlet offered alcoholic beverage options Uh, recently ppc made the business decision to reopen the smash burger outlet with a wall burgers in addition to offering food menu items Wall burgers will also be offering alcoholic beverage options specifically trapped here only Uh, as discussed starting on page 35 of the meeting packet the application was reviewed by the division of licensing The scope of this review also included verification pertaining to the licensed area manager Ronald robber who is their food and beverage manager? And an onsite inspection was performed by eric cantel i.e. v casino regulatory manager To confirm the accuracy of the reported licensed area information This inspection also confirmed the licensed areas surveillance and security wearing compliance and provided adequate coverage um, I'd also like to know We also worked with ppc's lisa mckinney in relation to this beverage amendment And the licensing division is recommending that the commission approve this amendment request At this time i'm happy to try and answer any questions that you may have Does anyone have any questions? today commissioners Okay, this is marked up for vote. I don't have any questions either. Thank you so much For the work that that you put into this and for the explanation you just gave We do have this marked up for a vote. Um, so do we have a motion? I move that the commission approve the amendment to plain red park casino's beverage license as included in the commissioners packet and discussed here today Mr. O'Brien, do we have a second I think commissioners second. I think commissioners skinner second. I did just for some reason they're flipping our audio Oh perfect. Thank you commissioners skinner All right, let's do a roll call commissure o'brien I Mr. Hill hi commissure skinner hi and All right, I think we're sticking with you for our next conversation dave Yes, sir This next request is coming from on core boston arbor Uh in preparation for opening a new leased outlet restaurant sea mark seafood and cocktails On core is requesting exemptions for 12 new positions This restaurant will occupy the space that was formerly the sinatra restaurant This request is being made under the statutory provision enacted in 2017 that Authorizes the commission to exempt certain job positions from the 23k registration requirements As discussed starting on page 41 of your packet This request was reviewed by the division of licensing Including the required exemption identification forms complete job descriptions and completed gaming licensee certifications Um, the positions that are being requested are as follows executive chef chef de cuisine sous chef dishwasher line cook prep cook receiver runner buster server Lead host and host I would note that currently the leased outlet nestica on for has similar exempt positions Additionally, I would also note when the space was formerly sinatra Which was on core owned and operated the commission also afforded on for similar exempt positions Uh, i'm happy to try and answer any questions that you may have but in summary This is the request before you that we're asking you to vote on I'd also like to note that our division worked with Cara henson on force assistant director of recruiting and employment to obtain the necessary information to develop this request Thank you, Dave. Philip measures. Do we have any questions? Well, I just want to thank you um day for your presentation I I looked over the 12 positions and the history of the positions we've exempted in the past and I was okay with it myself Um, with that said if there are no questions Ready for a motion I move that the commission approve on core boston harbors request for service registration exemptions as included in the commissioner's packet and discussed here today I can All right, let's do a roll call mr. O'brien I Mr. Hill I Mr. Skinner I And I vote yes for zero Thank you so much. Dave. Thank you to the ibe crew. Congratulations um to evh And with that We are going to move over To item number six Thank you Thank you So this item is from our racing division and includes um multiple requests We're going to start out with um Let me make sure I have my notes right our request to escrow racehorse development funds and for that We're going to kick it over to dr. Lightbound dr. Lightbound. Good morning Good morning everybody so this morning we the first item is The request to escrow the racehorse development fund monies These are primarily funds that would have gone for thoroughbred purse money And we began this discussion last summer. Um, since then we've done some more research on it um included in the packet is um a letter from the treasurer that um Uh director lennon cf a o lennon had received um We also put it out for public comment again and those comments are in your packet And um now i'll turn it over to associate general counsel. Judy's young to uh take it from here Thanks dr. Lightbound. Good morning chair. Good morning commissioners Uh just as dr. Lightbound had said today's discussion is a continuation of the presentation that we gave Last summer with myself dr. Lightbound and representatives, uh from the ne hbpa so, uh Just as an overview we would discussed the request to escrow funds that we uh had received from the ne hbpa back in june and reviewed 23 k section 60 which is the overarching Uh statute that discusses the racehorse development fund And then uh, I moved into a presentation of 205 cmr 149 That discussed the process of escrowing funds and how how that would look Then we kind of took a step back from those regulations and and talked about the big picture With cf a o lennon providing a lot of insight and information into How uh the technical aspect of how those funds would be placed in escrow I apologize. I'm having a little bit of technical difficulties. My screen keeps going black I'm just going to see if I can fix it And if not, we'll just continue going We can hear you and see you just so you know fantastic fantastic. Thank you. So Kind of picking up from there I wanted to quickly go over a points of review of where we left left our last discussion And then uh kind of move forward into uh what dr. Lightbound kind of touched on briefly And some of our more present research so just to just to kind of bring things full circle There are three categories of distribution within the racehorse development fund Those are in fact set within 23 k section 60 So in that distribution pile you have uh 80 percent of funds being allocated towards purses 16 percent of funds being allocated towards breeding efforts in the commonwealth And then four percent of those funds being earmarked for health and pension benefits Uh, so that is necessarily set within statute The allocations of those funds however were updated in 2021 by the horse racing committee Um, and so the horse racing committee took those three distributions and reallocated them differently After the 2019 cease of of thoroughbred racing in the commonwealth So with that the allocations of those three buckets were Then placed to 92 percent of the 80 percent distribution going towards standard bred purses 75 percent of the 16 percent distribution towards breeding going towards standard bred And then again a 50 50 split of health and pension benefits going towards standard bred So that's kind of where we find ourselves now and how those funds are allocated However, all that to say there is still a large amount of thoroughbred purse money That is not necessarily being distributed In the horse racing, excuse me racehorse development fund Which kind of leads us here today and into this request from the NEHBPA Moving back to the escrow of racehorse development funds It's important to note especially for our discussion today and to these some of these considerations that we'll touch on later Is that uh, the escrow of funds is not necessarily covered anywhere within statute Or are enabling legislation for the gaming commission um We walked through 205 cmr 149 pretty substantially last time and I will spare you that but The regs are included in your packet on page 121 through 123 But most notably I wanted to call out that the NEHBPA does not necessarily meet the definition of an association as listed within 205 cmr 149 And in the parallel definition of 205 cmr 3.00 Which discusses harness horse racing also known as standard breads um, and then lastly and most notably our research last presentation kind of touched on but had initially thoroughly concluded That it appeared to the office of the treasurer had to authorize the creation of all accounts for all agencies and the commonwealth Or excuse me the commission is included in that definition So since that time and since that presentation, we've had some opportunities to go away Do some external research and have additional conversations with the office of the treasurer in the comptroller's office And now it is apparent That our regulation doesn't necessarily um If you forgive the expression do justice to the process so In a review of these regulations our regulations makes it appear that the commonwealth excuse me that the commission solely has the authority to place funds in escrow but in actuality Pursuant to mgl chapter 29 section 23 It's the treasurer that manages all cash funds or investments under the control of the state agency and as I previously stated the commission Is in fact a state agency Additionally mgl chapter 29 section 34 prescribes that a state agency Must have chained the treasurer's consent to deposit all funds into a banking institution Lawfully doing business with commonwealth and that would include an escrow account So while the 149 Makes it appear that the commission can just authorize funds being placed into escrow for an association Uh, it is in fact the treasurer's office that would need to approve whether or not the commission would create that escrow account prior to the commission doing so so Um, this is this regulation would likely need to be updated We can discuss that later on as a policy consideration, but I did want to bring that up to you Um, and just kind of fully conclude where our research brings this brings that to us and then brings it to you today to discuss So with that i'm happy to turn it over to dr. Lightbound And cfa oh went in who were incredibly helpful In this project in bringing us forward and discussing some of the considerations That you all may have for this request Dr. Lightbound, um cfa oh lennon Anything additional to what judy just went over? Well, I did not have anything. I'll turn it over to derrick Yeah, and I think judy hit all the highlights And the you know the one other consideration is outside section 88 and house two Which is looking to Change these distributions for fy 25. We already discussed that in a february 1st meeting So, you know, you got to consider timing on that as well Thank you Questions by the commissioners So derrick just uh, so i'm clear on that that was prospective right the outside section you're referencing so the Money that's in there now So I could just look correct the money that was in there now would remain however it was um assumed during that during that thought process that And i'm sorry for So I apologize um for the for the Kind of like brain thought process here um But that was prospective and part of the consideration was those balances would be used for fy 25 Now we have some legislative Issues there that we have to look at because as judy went over 80 of the fund Has to be used for purses and out of the 23.7 million dollar balance sitting there 23.6 of it is for purses so it can't be used And it was dedicated by the race the horse racing committee for thoroughbred purses So We couldn't do any breeding with that money in fy 25. We couldn't pay for any Health or welfare benefits and we already talked about this on february 1st some of the problems with it As well as we would actually have to get the racing committee back together If we wanted to pay for any standard bred purses with that balance So while it was prospective There's still a problem that the money that's sitting there still really can't be used for anything but thoroughbred purses So it would hurt breeding it would hurt um the purses for ppc and fy 25 and it would also um hurt the health and And welfare benefits that people are receiving And in terms of the interest How it is held now interested nor is to the general fund right? Correct. It all goes to general fund right and then Ask growing it would mean that the interest wouldn't or back into the account, but it wouldn't change Sort of you know the prospective outside proposals that we have from the governor's office, right? correct correct Money could yes to to kind of elaborate on that thought commissioner that money could still I don't want to say at risk But for lack of a better term still be uh reallocated or redistributed or reassigned By by someone else as the I mean they're still technically commonwealth funds right And that would go either way it sounds like but that was a great line of question Anything else commissioner bryan or over the floor? So i'm This is I've had this come up front of me a number of times in the time that i've been here With the state of thoroughbred being what it is I understand why they're making the ask But judy to your point about when you looking at what is an association at this snapshot in time it does not appear You know we're we're not even at the jumping off point right now just what the posture is for the association so That's what I think So to that point I I did just think to myself and I see Paul umbrella on the on the screen high paul I didn't know he did submit a letter I didn't know since he was here today If you just want to briefly give his perspective before I reopen it to the commissioners Thank you everybody hear me. Yeah. Yeah, thank you. I thank you commissioners Yeah, I guess in listening to the comments and I appreciate being able to speak My concern here is the request isn't theoretically Coming from the association and as the recognized horseman's group for us to escrow it when I read the interpretation of cmr 205 149 i'm reading it as the commission as the authority just to protect that funding from any future Redistribution for the next three years without live racing. So we're trying to just protect that fund still under the state's guidance for any other future Investor coming in to build a racetrack Even if it is again when I interpret the law it could protect the standard birds for future funding if we Don't get a racetrack built this year. So we're just trying to protect that from theoretically a redistribution or money grab Um for the future of thoroughbred purses because without that future funding to fund purses based on that 92 8% split There's not going to be enough funding for us if we not if but I will feel confident say when we have a racetrack built um We need that money kind of seed money to kick off, you know, the whatever racing days there may be We have to start small and build into it Um, we would like to have that funding assured both for an investor in the horseman that that that money which again in our Interpretation should have been deposited weekly into the horseman's account Um, and never was we're just looking to get that protected not under, you know It's not going into a horseman's account We're just kind of having looking I guess for the commission and with the state To put it in into an escrow account collecting interest again the interest I felt which again when you're talking about 20 million dollars is interest that could have been Compounded into that account for us to be utilizing that as well. So we're losing That benefit of the funding. So all we're trying to do is just protect it Um for the future benefit of racing and again if that doesn't happen within three years Then the commission in my interpretation still has that authority to do What it feels right whether it's for the best interests of the horseman the commonwealth Um, you know, remember when dog racing was banded the state went and helped the the dog owners That had to either find new careers new jobs So look, we're we're just looking at making the request hoping that the commission would act accordingly to protect it in the future of thoroughbred racing That that was it in a nutshell then why we why we make the request. Thank you Thank you. Mr. Umbrella for sharing your your view on the matter and And as commissioner bryan and and judy just talked about, you know, part of this is up to the legislature and the governor and the that process and so But that said I saw commissioner hill had his mic off at one point. Mr. Hill. Thank you, mr. Chairman Derek i'm putting on my select man's hat from like 25 years ago when the word Abatras comes to mind Is this affected at all with if we were to collect Put this into an escrow account we collect the escrow Do we fall under that? I remember the term but I can't arbitrage Yeah, arbitrage has to do with um with uh bonds And that is when you take a Non-interest bearing bond and pay it out to someone they put in an interest bearing account and they're basically Getting something that they're not entitled to My my definition may be off by a little bit It's been about 10 years since I had to work with bond counsel on those but That's what arbitrage deals with it's dealing with a Commonwealth instrument that necessarily You don't have to pay taxes on and then you're gaining interest on it Thank you However, I do want to apologize to Eric Cantel for the way I said Eric earlier, so I apologize. I was a little I was a little rude I thought you were just welcoming him to his new position Yeah Well, Eric is always getting work done over here. You know when you sit down a ppc. It's a lively place It is um Thank you. Um, thank you to To To add to my comments, mr. Chairman I am in agreement with commissioner o'Brien With where we are and where we need to go at this point Um, I I don't with everything that's been explained to me today. I'm not sure that I'm ready to um Move to push these funds into an escrow account Mr. Skinner anything to add Briefly, um, aside from that threshold question I'm satisfied with the representation that the commission does not have sole authority here in granting what's being requested and so Mr. Umbrello, I appreciate your comments today both verbally and written and You know, I think that It's not an open and shut case um Totally and completely But I think for purposes of this discussion today. I don't think that we are there unfortunately Speaking as one commissioner Well, I think you were speaking as a third commissioner and and I will add a fourth to that voice and say that I agree with my fellow commissioners For all the reasons that they said You know because of this lack of authority Um And and the conversations with the treasurer's office. I would say that there's consensus here. I don't know if Anyone wanted to move to to solidify or if we just move on with the consensus Uh, so my position, I don't think we really need to vote today And I think because there's nothing to be done and my concern with an affirmative move to decline Is some of my understanding and Judy correct me if i'm wrong has to do with the posture that the horsemen are in and the viability of an imminent track And so what I don't want to do is have us have a hard no where then they Are sort of pushing to fight back because they are going to know what's happening on the ground way faster than we are And so I for as one commissioner uncomfortable saying that we've reached consensus declining Um without moving to say a hard no, um for any particular legal rationale That's where i'm coming from. I don't know how my fellow commissioners feel Fine with me And commissioner skinner you're good with that. Yeah, same here. I'm good with it too Well, with that said thank you and again, thank you for your remarks mr. Umbrella. Thank you and judy derek um and dr. Lightbound for The analysis um and with that let's move on to six b dr. Lightbound Thanks. So six b is the approval of um the plane ridge operating personnel and their racing officials Steve otul is on the meeting today um the people that are on the list have all been Licensed with us before there's nobody um new Um, they've all worked for plane ridge before in various capacities Um, so my recommendation is that the commission approved this request um pending the satisfactory completion of their licensure by the gaming commission division of racing And um satisfactory completion of their background checks by the state police um right now that these folks are in the process of getting their licenses as we don't um officially start Tell april 15th Thank you. Dr. Lightbound. Hi steve. Do you have anything to add? Uh, good morning commissioners. No, I don't have any tab that all these people have been with us for uh At least in the past. There's only one on the list that was with us about two years ago He left for another position at yonkers and then we baited him back to plane ridge. So We're happy to have john material back with us. Um, but other than that They're all very familiar faces to alex and and uh, the state police and the commission But thank you john john's a good spot. Um, all right with that said commissioners Do we have any questions for dr. Lightbound or steve? I know that we've all had time to review chairman Yes, commissioner hill I moved at the commission approved the racing officials and key operating personnel of plane ridge park fesina Was concluded in the commissioners packet and discussed here today second All right, we have a motion from commissioner hill second by commissioner bryan um, commissioner bryan hi commissioner hill hi commissioner skitter hi And i'm a yes for zero Thank you. We're stuck. We're sticking with dr. Lightbound. It looks like um With the waiver request of 205 cmr 3.127 Can you tell us a little bit about that dr. Lightbound? There um, of course is that haven't raced for 30 days are required to do a qualifying race That's basically a race for no purse money and there's no betting on it This gives the track veterinarians a chance to see the horse make sure they're sound and in good shape and It also gives the horse um, basically practice. Um, and um We have approved this on a commission level since uh, 2018 the Track has come in and asked for it to be moved to 45 days We haven't had any incidents with it being moved to that and um, so again, um, I move that uh, I Recommend to the commission. Sorry that um, they approve this request again Any comments other comments? Dr. Lightbound, I guess the question I have I know we've been doing this every year Um, and the question is is it time to amend the reg to go to 45? I can jump I can jump in your Alex and I Yep That'll be coming before you in just uh, I think actually the next uh commission meeting We have a number of racing regs and this is one of them. So this would be okay going forward. Yeah Got it. Thanks Mr. Chairman Yes, miss your help I moved that the commission approved the waiver of 205 cmr 3.127 For the 2024 racing season at the plain rich park casino as included in the commissioner's packet and discussed here today Second All right, let's do a roll call and by the way, I'm just going to take dr. Lightbound's motion on that but anyways, uh commissioner o'brien hi commissioner hill Hi Commissioner skinner Hi And I vote yes That's for zero I think dr. Lightbound does that conclude your business for today? If I could just take a quick moment to thank, um, Judith young and Derek Landon very much for all their work on the escrow They really did the majority of the work on that item. So I appreciate it That's a good pairing to to put on that issue and we we also appreciate it. Um, good to see you, Steve Thank you commissioners for your actions. Thank you Thank you So with that said, uh, we're ready to move to item seven and for that, um Director van der linden I see dr. Andrews and long um Going to start out with discussing the fy 25 research agenda Take it over to you mark Good, uh, thank you commissioner maynard and uh, good morning commissioners. Um, yes, it's time for us to introduce the fy Gaming research agenda. Um, just keep in mind. This is our our first pass At this and as we kind of march towards the beginning of the fiscal year will become more defined and More refined so So, please keep that in mind So just by quick background the expanded gaming act enshrines the role of research and understanding the social and economic effects and mitigating the negative consequences of of gambling in the commonwealth and to this end we seek the advice of the gaming policy advisory commission to inform our work And the commission to adopt a fy 25 research agenda to comprehensively assess the impacts of gaming in the commonwealth And there are two specific areas within statute where this is defined the first being the in the expanded gaming act Chapter 23 case section 71 directs the research agenda to examine the social and economic effects of expanded gambling and to obtain scientific information relative to neuroscience psychology sociology and epidemiology of gambling um This was extended to the act to regulate sports wagering Chapter 23 in section 23 Um, so that we also have that authority to examine the effects of sports wagering in the commonwealth Um to support the implementation of this research agenda, uh, the commission adopted a strategic plan that outlines research into seven lines of seven key lines Including economic research, which is to analyze the fiscal and economic effects of gaming in the commonwealth as well as a social research agenda, which is to examine The social impacts of research both of these together are largely carried about out by the umass school of public health and health sciences in collaboration with umass donning Institute They're intended to provide neutral information on decision making Early warning signs of changes connected to to gambling and to help reduce gambling related harm We also have uh other lines of research including the community engaged free research, which is to understand and address the impacts On specific massachusetts communities largely, uh funding in this category is directed to communities Which are considered at greater risk of gambling related harm We have a line of research dedicated to public safety Examining the impacts on public safety including crimes, faults or service, collisions and driving under the influence We engage in evaluating our responsible gaming programs, which Long band will talk a little bit about And we've been you're very familiar with at this point including the play my way program the game sense program and the voluntary self-exclusion program and And other programs that are that are around the bend for the commission While the gaming massachusetts gaming impact cohort has wound down A few years ago. It continues to be an important study that informs our strategies and practices And that was a line of research a gift that was a line of research that ended Three years ago at this point We are dedicated to data sharing through the massachusetts open data exchange or mode We have over 20 data sets, uh from the sigma project that are available for research purposes And so with that I wanted to you know, all of this research is is important And as I start talking about the f y 25 research agenda, I think it's important to just understand this is ongoing and We have several projects that are currently underway And I wanted uh, dr. Andrews to just provide a brief overview of that before I talk about the f y 25 fine Hi, dr. Andrews Hello Thank you director van der linden and thank you mr. Chairman and commissioners It's wonderful to be here to talk with you today about um our current and ongoing ongoing and upcoming research efforts Um, and I don't know if it would be helpful for me to share my screen or whether um Okay, excellent. Um, I can share my screen and I just wanted to talk before we move into the f y 25 research agenda um I just wanted to move um to talk a little bit about our ongoing and upcoming research efforts to kind of give a little bit of context um in terms of what um The f y 25 research agenda is going to be um taking place in the context of So I wanted to talk a little bit about um, first of all the social and economic research that we're um is ongoing and briefly upcoming Um, we have leading off. We have a an integrated impact report which is going to give um a role looking at the overall social and economic impact since Bainbridge Park casino opened in 2015 um, we're also going to have um an online panel survey um assessing changes in gambling participation from 2022 to 2023 um a report on out-of-state visitorship to massachusetts casinos um an economic report on the early impact of sports wagering um and a report that's going to be upcoming on the impact of advertising on gambling behavior in citizens um in terms of public safety, we're going to be having a report on Plainville, so a report on public safety in plainville and surrounding communities using data through 2023 um as well as a study on um the influence of casinos and casino resorts on sex trafficking for common well um for community engaged research We have one ongoing study that's focused on youth and sports wagering um and this is a study that's conducted by um north at the university of chicago And is focused on the legalization of sports betting in massachusetts and its impacts on young adults ages 18 to 25 Um as well as we um, we're going to be funding a couple of additional community engaged research projects And um, that's they're currently under review. Um, so news more to come on that Um, we're also dr. Andrews. Oh, yes Chair mayor, um, if I may I just I'm sorry to interrupt you um When you say they're currently under review, could you elaborate a little bit on those two projects? Absolutely. So um, we currently had um a funding call for additional community engaged research projects So we post an open we posted an open procurement um asking for additional community engaged research projects and we received proposals Andrew currently in the process of reviewing those proposals and we'll be making awards shortly Okay, thank you. No worries. And that's part of the f y 24 research agenda that was a correct Correct. Yeah And to be sure skinner you reminded me and I should have said it because we I can't see everyone Uh because of the screen just jump in uh, feel free to jump in if there are any questions to the commissioners Absolutely, thank you And then in terms of evaluation of responsible gaming initiatives, um, we have the game sense evaluation Which is a four part evaluation of our game sense program That's also currently in the final stages of review with our research review committee We have a study that's being funded through the international center for responsible gaming. Um, that focuses on assessing whether mandatory versus voluntary limited deurance features, um and reward facilitates, um responsible game, um gambling And we also have a study. Um, that's going to be, um Following up on director van der linden's presentation on, um risk identification and response We're going to be having a study that focuses on both the use of ai, um in, um In gaming and also, um risk identification and response that's going to be upcoming We have two legislatively mandated studies, um related to sports wagering that are ongoing The first is a prospective study on the feasibility and potential impact of allowing retail locations in the commonwealth to operate sports wagering kiosks We also have a study on diversity in the sports wagering industry Um, we're going to have a study on the impact of eye gaming on public health with particular focus on comparison of Participants with participants in other forms of gaming Comorbidity with problem gambling and impacts on youth under the age of 25 Um, and lastly, um, we also have a program. That's a collaboration with the community mitigation fund. Um at the gaming commission that, um is Funding community engaged research projects So we're going to be um, we're currently in the process of reviewing proposals that have been received. Um in our collaboration with the community mitigation fund um, so with that, oh I you saw that Um, so dr. Andrews, can you talk about the two stature tour? Tourly required studies and kind of what the timeline is I know we initially were waiting To actually get sports wagering up and going and I think we sent something to the legislature Saying that but Yes, I'm happy. I'm happy to talk about that. So we have the kiosk study which has been awarded to Spectrum gaming group in collaboration with the nas council on gaming and health And that study is going to be There there's going to be a first draft of that report that's going to undergo review that we're anticipating In the spring. So that is that's going to be within the next Month or two that we're going to be kind of that we're going to be receiving that report and going through that process And that's the kiosk study For the sports wagering diversity study Um, we are that Contractors awarded to the donahue institute. Um at umass and for that study. Um, we're currently in the process of um Invaging a data collection Related to that study and with that report anticipated. Um later in the summer and early fall So that's what that's the status update on those two projects. I appreciate that. Thank you and thank you for reading my box On any time and commissioner manor just that we Launched this kiosk study Much sooner than the sports wagering diversity study Because we wanted to make sure that there was time for the sports wagering industry to get stood up So that we we would have more information and data to draw upon so Kind of believe that that contract was that contract was finally awarded And When december maybe uh, bonnie. Yes around there. Yeah late 2023 Yeah So really both of those are are on track of what we were we were anticipating at this point Thank you Great, bonnie. Actually, would you mind just keeping your screen up and we can just scroll down through the fy 25 research agenda And unless there are other questions about the um ongoing research efforts at this point I think you're good great It's a lot by the way it there's a lot there and um, it's a constant juggling act to make sure that these are staying Staying on on track and moving forward so With that said we're always excited to talk about upcoming potential research studies as well to keep this ongoing research agenda That overall goal of understanding the effects of gambling within the Commonwealth So again, this is our very first pass proposed research agenda We welcome your feedback on On this draft of it. You may have some questions that we'll need to go back and get some details from And provide some additional detail too And at the end i'll talk to you a little bit more about the timeline and where we need to go next with this So the fy 25 gambling research agenda is estimated to be one million eight hundred and ten thousand dollars And this is slightly less than the fy 24 research agenda And as always, we will make sure that we are in close collaboration Communication with finance division to make sure that there's sufficient funding to support the research deliverables Once we have an approved and final research agenda Of special note, you'll you've already seen what we're doing so far as it relates to sports wagering and We have a few projects one funded one We believe will be funded relatively soon that focuses on youth and sports wagering And there's a continued commitment to make sure that we're paying attention to the impacts of sports wagering, especially with avris groups, including younger gamblers So the fy 25 research agenda that you see before you It's out outlined in a table that includes a general description of each project the specific deliverables and activities And a reference to the section either 23k or 23 and that will kind of the that grounds the research that we are proposing So the first one going to talk a little bit about this social and economic research that's being proposed and it's important to keep in mind actually We have we have had that contract with UMass and hers and hers been the School of Public Health and Health Sciences and UMass in collaboration with UMass Donahue Institute for Sigma We've had that since 2012 or 23 2012 That and it's gone through a couple of procurements Another one of those procurements is actually coming to an end at the end of fy 25 And so as we describe the social and economic research that's being carried out by the Sigma team We we have a specific Intention that anything that's being proposed should be wrapped up by June 30th of 25 So with that said There's still several projects and still a lot of opportunity for us to do some some good work here The first is an in-depth analysis and I'll try to define all these acronyms here. I apologize An in-depth analysis of the follow-up general population survey, which is is final at this point Or the follow-up online panel survey and the online panel for survey for fy 23 keeping Just regarding online panels So there was the follow-up general population survey, which was an address based sampling methodology And that was combined with an online panel which uses an online panel In order to have greater value and be able to say more about handling behaviors attitudes in in the commonwealth As an ongoing commitment in monitoring, we also have online panels that are being administered Every year and so when I say the online panel survey For fy 23, that is the on the annual online panel survey Um, and so the intention is to take take these surveys and triangulate them in order to highlight To be able to talk more about trends and highlight the impacts of force wagering Using a comparison of these these different surveys In addition, we wanted to do it. There will be an online panel survey report. So the online panel for 2024 complete and a report will be delivered Using the same template from fy 23 with an expanded section on force bedding behavior that again continues to focus on on trends um and There will be an online work proposing an online panel survey for fy 25 And as I said before we really want to try to wrap all of this up by june 30 of the 25 So there will be the collection the analysis report will all all be done by that time um We are also proposing as we do every year For the past several years at least an ad hoc report and this is an opportunity for the commission Once the fiscal year starts fy 25 gets underway It allows the commission to take a step back and identify what you think is a priority given what we know at that at that point in time So it gives us a little bit more time to define specifically what we would like it to be That said it's always good to have a few options that are out there So we we have brainstormed a little bit with the with dr. Bolberg dr. Williams and the sigma team In order to come up with a few options Option one would be a host in surrounding community net impact. So taking a look at the economic activity that that's that's pulled in versus given out to host in surrounding community So what is the net impact of? economic impact of Having a casino in springfield, massachusetts or plane plane bill Another or ever. Sorry. I didn't mean to leave out Everett casino Another option would be to take a look at casino contracting to minority business and Enterprises and this would provide an opportunity for a deeper dive into how those monies are being allocated with in the industry Both I feel like are really good really interesting options again with the emphasis that it's We can contain that within within the fiscal within the fiscal year And bonnie if you could scroll down just a little bit further um And then there's always an option for something that the something else something that comes up with the commissioner commission wishes for us to explore and take that back to the to the team um And finally the the last report for the sigma team on this list is a report on reallocation of sports gambling using the online panel survey of fy 23 in the online panel survey Of fy 24. So in other words, it's it's it's it's working with this the economic team the umasthony here institute the social team um led by dr. Bolberg um In taking a look at a variety of different data sources to understand if people weren't spending money on sports wagering How would that money be reallocated? Where else would would that come on? the the last that we had put under this category of social and economic research relates to the springfield youth health survey and so we we actually have provided funding to To this in the past the youth health survey. I think is administered to springfield youth age, uh, and I think it's Eight 11th and 12th grade. I may be I may be wrong, but anyway, it's it's part of a much larger Survey that's being administered to springfield youth this provides us with an opportunity to to add additional gambling related questions, um into that survey And which increases our power to be able to understand what the impacts of the gambling are I think it's really important that we fund this Provide some funding for this survey because as we have Provided funding in the past. It was only when there was a casino um in in springfield So I think it's another opportunity to get some information about maybe uh gambling and sports wagering impacts on underage youth Mark I have a question So on the options Is that something the commissioners need to decide relatively soon or are you going to let us know when when we need to weigh in on that? I think as in in your years past we try to zero in on the topic by september sometime So there's some time And you can choose one of those two options or you we can go in a different direction But I think september is the timeline that we need that especially if we're trying to wrap this up relatively by by june 30 Thank you. Okay um So moving into public safety research as bonnie had mentioned there's there's actually Work in the field now for a plain build a study of Public safety issues crimes calls for service collisions in plainville. Um, this is on the heels of a Similar study in springfield that was released earlier this year and ever which was I believe last last fall So we're wrapping up that so this this provides us an opportunity to maybe step back and f y 25 with our research team and say All right, we can combine all three of these reports and Maybe make a broader statement about overall public safety impacts of casino gambling um In the commonwealth and and as an added benefit we would be able to Take a look. Um, or the proposal is that we would use nivers data or statewide public safety data In order to be able to do some some comparisons here And moving on to the next topic community engaged research, um Bonnie mentioned we we actually we have funding now going to n orc on the sports youth sports Study and we have two that were very close to funding This is an ongoing commitment to community engaged research and as um, as I said before and as former chairwoman jet stein pointed out repeatedly over over the years This is a really important line of research. This allows us to um take a deeper dive into communities However, we're defining communities in order to understand what are the impacts on some of some groups some communities that are at greatest risk that we are not able to capture And whether it's an online panel or the follow-up general population survey So this is using some alternative methods in order to stay more about communities at greater risk um an ongoing commitment would be to fund one to two more of these studies Um over the course of the next couple years as we happen as we have in the past. This is this is uh A proposal that we would level fund that um So Then there's also it's it's level funding within Our funding source through the public health trust fund, but we would also Really appreciate and I really like the Partnership that we have with the community mitigation Fund in in the division in order to Look at how we can extend extend our community-engaged research through funding from the community mitigation fund Okay Moving down into data sharing. So we would of course want to Continue to support mode the massachusetts open data exchange as a as a repository For for data sets and add additional data sets as to become available The biggest piece of this it relates to section 97 data or the casino player data We are In the final steps of building that infrastructure So that that data can be deposited and made available for for research purposes I can't underscore enough just how important this particular project is and If the commission agrees, I think that it would be a worthwhile initiative to put some funding Towards that not just passively make it available as we have with other data sets But say these are we we wish to make some funding available For researchers to use this data to initiate some some research projects that would be of interest to the commission Responsible gaming evaluation One study under here so in 2021 and 2023 we did study of positive play positive play is really defined as Some behaviors that are indicative of lower risk gambling And so the value of that for our responsible gaming initiatives is to say what what are What's player segments are exhibiting positive play behaviors? What player segments mean? broken down by demographics Um are struggling in specific areas whether it's gambling literacy pre-commitment honesty and control And that has been used Especially through the game sense program to kind of define where our strategies are going and who our target audiences are and what that message is The proposal would be that we would launch a new another positive play study in FY 25 Where we could then begin to have a better understanding of positive play and sports wagering behavior And especially positive play in sports wagering behavior as it relates to other forms of gambling as well All right, and moving down So there's a couple studies I've been talking a lot about sports wagering all along Both what's underway as well as in other parts of the proposed FY 25 research agenda But there's a few studies that we want to just zero in on one is a study of student athletes um And as we've seen sort of a gap in in existing research and a growing Concern about the effects of sports wagering and student athletes. This is an opportunity to Do a specific study in this context? Looking at you through UMass Amherst student athletes at UMass Amherst looking at At impacts on on this specific group There's also an opportunity another ad hoc study again, I think that Probably somewhere around September October with maybe not quite as much of a rush but Setting aside specific dollars so that the commission can In the fall begin to define another sports wagering specific topic and of interest for you Lonnie or come into an end here um so The research I I can't Another thing that's just incredibly important to our entire research project the process The rigor of our research the independence of our research is the role of Our research review committee not the gaming commission but an independent committee research committee With expertise and specific research expertise in specific area in order to Both provide advice on the front end as a research plan is being developed As well as on the back end when a final when a draft of a report comes in we usually have two or three iterations Of review between the research team and the research review committee before before you see it and so When a research project or report comes to the commission you can have great confidence that there was an extensive process in place To review and provide feedback on on these these reports We want to continue to provide and support this This research review committee and probably expanded a little bit Over the the next fiscal year Um, and finally knowledge translation and exchange. Um, also identified in the research strategic plan that I mentioned at the top of this um We currently have a ongoing contract with rio the gaming research and exchange of ontario to develop Um specific tools to develop materials that help mobilize the the research that That we have in place right now. So we would want to continue to do that Perfect example of that was we did a very nice wrap up of all the research that was done in 2023 f y 23 um and brought that to the commission continued Further refine and develop that our research snapshots are another example while bonny is Is is fantastic at that there was a process of getting some advice and feedback from rio and those two So that it I guess, um, I'll I'll pause there if there are any any questions before I talk about steps. That's okay with you Chair manor Yeah, thank you mark. Um fellow commissioners any questions. Um, first of all, I appreciate mark going through this But any questions we have at this point comments All right to reach a random and I think that's a Um Work from your from your fellow colleagues here Thank you. I'm sorry. I do have a Bit belated. I do have a question. So so there's no action requested From the commission today. This is a proposed research agenda that you will take to Um, the next step which is um g-pack. Correct. Okay. That is correct. So Uh We brought this to the gaming research advisory committee. This is a non statutory body, but an important body to provide feedback on ongoing research projects as well as Advise on the upcoming research agenda They did identify a few projects that the commission may wish to consider again This is this is advice for the commission from this body Um, one was a study of video gaming and e-sports including but not limited to youth under the age of 25 in associations with problem gambling um I would say this is an interesting study. I would be interested in in sort of the Transition between um video gaming in in gambling if we're going to take a look at this Um, and so video gaming eye gaming Sports wagering and even casino gambling, but um, I think that there is a link there and it's probably an under understudied area Um, another recommendation was an evaluation of the voluntary self exclusion program And while we did evolve an evaluation of this program Early on out of the gates when plain rich park casino open um, if we haven't Revisited that and we've added sports wagering voluntary self exclusion We've refined the voluntary self exclusion here and there along the way So it it does look different than what it did during that initial evaluation So there is there is also a solid idea. Um, it would be fall into that responsible gaming evaluation category Um, and then there was yes, I'm sorry. When was the last evaluation done or the um, I think it was wrapped up in 2018 that it covered a period from the opening of plain rich park casino in 2015 to 2017 so I think it was reported in 2018, but a period report had captured data between 15 and 17 Okay, it does sound like it might be time for an update Yes, yeah, I agree Um In the final there was just a general comment about knowledge translation in exchange that We have over 70 reports now that we've published since The gaming research agenda began and um, I think there's some truths and facts that even on those early reports Um combined with more recent studies may may be very interesting to the commission and inform Our work as well as other policymakers um, so with that said as We are statutory required to seek the advice of the gaming policy advisory committee um, so we will certainly certainly do that So the process would be that um, we had the gaming research advisory committee Providing us to you now is sort of a first pass We would take it to the gaming policy advisory committee and then it would bring it back to the commission um, but with a little bit more detail to to these studies um with a final proposal For adoption that would align with budget with the available budget So it sounds like we will have another bite at this apple. Yes. Um, okay perfect All right. Well, is that all you have on that topic director? Yes, well, thank you. That's you know, that was um, uh, no easy task going through All the great work that you and your team do and we appreciate it. Thank you dr. Andrews um, also So let's go to section b and talk about problem gambling awareness month And I have to note that commissioner o'brien is wearing her really cool game since jersey today, so Before I turn this over to to long dan if I could just say and try to tie this together this research agenda really is about mitigating gambling related harms the focus on preventing gambling related harms It's embedded in our our mission. It's embedded within how what this research agenda is intended to do to and to inform Our responsible gaming activities as well as other initiatives throughout the state through the department of public health in order to prevent and and Reduce gambling related harms March is problem gambling awareness month um And so we we address that through evidence and we address that through our our practice and Funding really important programs and initiatives out of out of the gaming mission. And so um Long ban or grease fantastic Responsible gaming manager will provide sort of an update about what has happened through the month of march So thank you and uh long. Yeah. Thank you director of mender linden Good morning interim chair, uh, maynard and commissioners. Um, I did present. I did Develop the a presentation if I may I'm I'm going to share my screen Um at the presentation Okay, there we go. Okay as uh, director of mending mentioned, um March is designated as a problem gambling awareness month or also known as pgam It's a nationwide grassroots campaign that seeks to increase public awareness of problem gambling and promote prevention treatment and recovery services the two goals Of uh pgam are to increase public awareness of problem gambling and the availability of prevention treatment and recovery services And to encourage health care providers to screen clients for problem gambling Uh 2024 theme uh for pgam is every story every story matters As p come uh pgam comes to an end. I would like to present an update on pgam in massachusetts Um, mgc contracted with archipelago strategies group or asg to provide marketing strategies for game sense The marketing goal for 2024 was to increase awareness of problem gambling and prevention treatment and recovery services to sports fans asg purchased broadcast ads and music streaming through iHeart media Feel sure with the former chief communications officer at the mass gaming or the mass council on gaming and health developed two Audio promotions that were used in the media buy. So I would like to play, you know, the um the creation or the um the audio promotions the first one is at 15 seconds Perfect sometimes the audio is a struggle Oh, sorry. I apologize. I'm streaming it from the internet. So I apologize if it's not coming clear No, I can't hear it. Oh you cannot hear. I'm sorry Let me see so let me stop sharing and see if that works. Let me try to play. Please. Let me know if this We're not picking up anything No, it's not working Your background noise microphone is working really really good because it's canceling. I can't hear anymore Okay, I apologize. Uh, but I will send it To um to folks and I will make sure, you know, it will be available on um on um the website when we put it out, but there are two different um audio promotions that were produced there's a 15 seconds and a 30 seconds, but I will provide that um Apologize for the technical difficulties we're having There's some there's some helpful information provided by john scully if you if you if you Want to take a look at that They might want to reshare and click And thank you john Yeah, thank you Click audio reshare. Okay. Okay. And tip number two to see if this works Did that work or were you able to know? Oh, wow, we tried My apologies, but I will send the link out with the um the audio promotion We we are still we we are live and things happen. So we appreciate the attempt and the reattempt and And sending that around No, I will make sure that you know people will have um a chance to listen to the two great um audio promotions that was developed Samantha, uh toro tobro and uh zuhay gonzalez at asg provided the media by data from march 4th to march 25th So there were a total of about nine hundred and thirty eight thousand overall impressions Impressions are numbers of time ads were delivered with possible touch points The campaign yielded about two hundred and three Thousand reaches so we look at the podcast ads and the streaming audio You combine the two that's sort of the the reach um the reaches of the ads that um touched or Interacted with the listeners Um through the relationships with asg iHeart media provided display ad so there you see the display ad impressions of um 80 000 touch or impressions And you know this was kind of neat because it was free at no cost And we actually from that we had about 58 clicks from the the ads Two interesting discoveries from these marketing strategies were one There were environmental factors that impact on impressions and clicks if you look at the the very bottom Data you see that on march 16th. There was a spike in clicks So, you know, we discovered that that spike, you know, could be due to the the commencement of march madness um And so, you know, it sort of it indicated that there are environmental factors that spiked people's interest in learning more about the services and the programs and Pgam what we offer at game sense The other discovery is that, you know, age asg discover that are found that people were accessing the game sense ma Dot com website through the desktop. So it was interesting and you know, the data We don't have it quite yet. Um asg is going to put in they provide a monthly data of all the game sense ma's websites traffic and sort of looking at what medium So here we do have the data on the impressions by device You see that majority of the folks are listening To their podcast on their phone. However, we were finding that people are accessing the game sense ma's website Actually do their computer their desktop not their phone Um, so that's some of the interesting findings, you know preliminary. We're just we're uh asg has discovered So on tuesday march 12 2024 was the gambling disorder screening day This is a we partner with cambridge health lines the game sense advisors utilize the three questions brief social Bio social gambling screen or bb gs So this year game sense advisors actually ministered the screening to the back of the house or you know Screen the staff at each properties In total in that one day, we had about 569 invited to screen 77 or 438 completed the screening out of the 438 25 percent or 111 Screen positive screening positive indicated that they you know answered Yes, to at least one of the three questions in the bb gs um, and what was interesting was that we found that uh, uh, the 25 percent or the hundred In 11 who screened positive majority of our male between the ages of 26 and 40 Um, so that's something, you know, we were for just fascinating to see What um long what should we extrapolate from that piece of information? So, you know, and I think it's looking at one It's it's connects to some of the research that we found in sports wagering that it is the same demographics We were not able to capture the The race unfortunately, but we were able to capture the the gender and the age range and So it's it's congruent to what we're finding. Um, and I think that's just, you know, it's It's the population that we need to actively more Target or make sure that materials or information it's delivered to that that population And then finally at each property the game sense team engaged patrons Yeah, yes commissioners. I'm so sorry to interrupt you. Could you go back to the previous slide? um What was the follow-up if any to any of the individuals who Had a positive screening how Is that dealt with is that something that a game sense advisor would perhaps follow up and offer some additional information to these folks Yeah, that's it's a great question. So, uh, we partner with cambridge health alliance so, um The gambling disorder screening day if they screen positive There's a list of resources that department public health has of providers that the game sense advisor will connect So we would do a warm handoff Because game sense advisors are not clinicians are not mental health providers They are not able to provide clinical services, but they are there to connect So to either connect with a recovery specialist jody or to a Provider within the at the location and really sort of do that that warm handoff and provide any resources or any Other materials that would be helpful for the patron and so it's really meaning that what they're at And that happened that day at the time of screening. Okay, perfect. Thank you commissioners center I think that's a fantastic question and something long was Was very focused to make sure that there were there was a follow-up for individuals that would be positive We knew that there there would be a significant percentage of people that are positive And that this is you know, this is also kind of what game sense advisors do every day Front of house as well as individuals who are We're struggling with gambling problem whether or not it comes through in the bbgs or another another instrument or measure To make sure that resources are available that they're connected that they're supported And in the way that they need or want to be supported Yeah, and commission like a doctor or director vandalin mentioned out I did, you know, we did meet with game bridge health lines to have that conversation So if someone does screen positive, you know, what are the resources and so they were able to provide us with that And so the game sensor visor had that available for the screening So if there was a positive screen, they were able to connect and you know, we made it very clear We want a warm handoff just because you know, we don't want folks to just leave if they screen positive Since if they may go back So as I mentioned, you know every week, you know that we the game sense advisors develop a theme or the topic So week one it was play my way or play management week two was On college athletes and gambling week three was on resources and finally on this last week is on positive play And so this is important because the activities if you look at the center bottom Is an example of the the questions that The game sensor visor incorporate into the activities. So some of the activities that that were offered or were were Demonstrated and each properties were you know, the positive play quiz this swag wheel Marvel activity sports, we're during quiz the vending machine March madness quiz game sense jeopardy and the vending machine if you guys are familiar is this is a fabulous tool basically as a vending machine where The staff at the properties will go and you know punch in the numbers that they're interested because of randomness The price might not be what they anticipated. So it's really sort of teaching and talking about The odds and the unpredictability So it demonstrates, you know, it's sort of understanding how the slot machine works I think that includes any questions Any questions commissioner We'll say I enjoyed the picture of amy on that side Like we all love amy here um So with that Nothing else for director vander linden dr. Bonnie Long All right. Well, thank you. We appreciate all this work. It's a lot of work We appreciate what you did this month For pgam and we look forward to Talking to you after you speak with jika Thank you. Thank you very much Thank you All right commissioners do we Sorry, break Can I just add just one thing on the previous Item just a thank you to all of the properties who participated in pgam Thank you I joined I joined commissioner skinner. I imagine my fellow commissioners do too um Do we need a five minute break or do we want to keep going commissioners? I can take five minutes, please. Oh I got two things I want so commissioner brian gets to break the tie Let's take a five minute break. I say i'm agnostic. So you got a one one tie right now Yeah, I can always use a break. Mr. We'll take a five minute break. Let's try to reconvene Before 10 40, please All right. Thank you. All right. I think we can take the screen down. Okay Um See I guess we're still live right always live great Um, so this is a reconvening of the massachusetts gaming commission Um, I will do a roll call since we're holding this virtually commissioner brian Yep, I am here Mr. Hill I'm here And commissioner skinner Yeah So now we're going to agenda item number eight and for that we're kicking it back to legal With uh interim executive director and general counsel Uh grossman. I think he will be joined by counselor young counselor stem pick It's like Mina is on from a and k and Dr. Light bound is probably around two given the topic So to talk about 205 cmr 15 point o.l I'll turn it over to Mr. Grossman Well, thank you again. We're gonna go right over to miss young for this one judy take it away Thanks dad So Let's see. It is still a morning. So good morning chair and commissioners Today we have for you the final draft of 205 cmr 15 horse racing meeting licensing This regulation came before you once in october 2023 for initial review and discussion It was put out for public comment for about 30 days And then the draft regulation came before you again for a vote of approval to begin the promulgation process and become filing by emergency um So the regulation was filed by emergency in december of 2023 and then went through the requisite filing and promulgation process A public hearing was held on january 9th 2024 and no additional comments were provided to the commission at that time After the hearing the regulation was sent to the senate clerk And filed for 60 days as is required in 128 a section 9b So the reg is now back before you with an amended small business impact statement And no substantive changes have been made to the regulation since its inception and original filing So with that I will kick it over to mina to walk you through the reg and I will be here to answer any additional questions you have Thank you. Good morning. Mina. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning, mr. Chair so the As judy mentioned this has gone through the full promulgation process including the special steps required for racing The non substantive change that you might notice is when it came before you in the fall It was numbered 205 cm r2. Now it's 205 cm r15. That is simply A facet of a request from the secretary state's office on how they organize a code of of mass regulations So that's really it there. I can walk through. I'll be very brief since this has come up before this the Regulation follows and incorporates from what the commission has learned from other licensing processes to apply it for racing licensing section 202 starts by setting out The materials that each applicant must submit including scoping surveys as appropriate bed Mass supplements, etc. And the application form and fees are all laid out there Um There is then a there's a couple of distinctions that are made for folks that have a Sorry, I said 202. I meant 1502 looking at my older notes The sequencing of submissions do differ slightly if an applicant is already a licensee versus a new licensee, but uh, otherwise Are are effectively the same Um, that's the bulk of what you have in front of you on pages 148 and 149 of the packet is all of the information that goes into the application The 1503 then gets into the evaluation of the application and the decision It like other applications that you Um That you License you or other lap applicants that you license I should say uh, there's opportunities for pre application review There is an initial step to ensure that the application is complete By the division of licensing that tracks language in some of the state and the the sports wagering regs To make sure that that decision is limited to really a completeness review And make it clear that that doesn't mean you have a license yet Following that the commission under 1503 can refer the application or parts of it for advice and recommendation to the executive director the bureau other Agencies to the extent appropriate commission staff etc or consultant It can then it then it has a public meeting um under 1503 for um The this is where I believe if you recall we had Added in the requirement for In the regs to make it explicit that the commission Have the reg uh in the municipality where the meeting is being proposed the racing meeting is being proposed And the following that the application is evaluated by the commission Under 1503 5 And that has all of the the factors that come from the racing statutes 128 a but also Some of this the same kinds of considerations such as suitability the interests of the public etc The financial responsibility That are factors in some of your other reviews The 1504 covers suitability Again very similar to what you are doing under other regulations It is based on 205 cm r215 in the sports wager and contests Under 205 104 to an applicant or qualifier could be temporarily suitable Based on access stations and a shorter investigation Or there's durable suitability similar to The durable preliminary suitability standards in 215 The distinction is that because racing applicants come back to every year preliminary suitability is really Replace with an annual finding of temporary suitability. So that's just a change in the language. It's not preliminary and durable The remainder of 04 gets into that process essentially There are a couple of reserved sections that remain reserved For potential future expansion of the reg advanced deposit wagering licensing fees for owners trainers etc financial payments Those are not being proposed at the moment And I believe some of that came from from sort of what had been in Previously seen a sort of work that and judy and and jesson can elaborate if necessary, but Are not part of today's reg. We're trying to keep the the number consistent with other regs as well 1508 mirrors 205 cm r12 and i 112 and 212 I believe in requiring the ongoing cooperation and information submittals from applicants and licensees to make sure that the information you have is accurate and And complete and can be acted on if there are changes And then finally including the Applicable penalties for failure to cooperate failure With the commissioner and agent of the commissioner of the bureau The final part is 1509, which is The process for withdrawing of an application As with some of the other licensing regs. There is a Need to be sure that If an applicant withdraws that they're not doing it in the midst of an investigation that might be revealing some information so they're and and or creating a chaotic situation for Employees and patrons and so especially given the annual application. So there is that a process to follow There as well. So that's a very high level overview. Again, this is one you've reviewed voted on now several times And has a slightly more cumbersome Implementation process because it's racing related then the sports wagering and gaming Gaming regulations. So that's why we're back here again, but this should be the last step In your in your process Commissioner o'Brien, it looks like you're reaching in So I did I know that one of the consternations in in doing this was figuring out how to get suitability over Into the horse racing side because it hasn't been there and making sure iub had enough time. So The temporary You know seems to fit that bill. I just want to get confirmation Caitlyn's on that this is workable for ivy. I want to make sure we're not putting something out there where You're going to be having things like the bED center in the mess up submitted Very very close to when the october 1 deadline is and then our 1115 mandatory response Yes, thank you. Uh, thank you commissioner. So We worked ivy and legal worked closely together on the process for the reg on the first draft and there are There is the sort of october 1 Deadline for applications in the statue, right? So we recognize that in the reg But what we've also done in the reg is sort of worked backwards and said You know If you get in certain pieces of information in within certain amounts of time We will be much more likely to be able to complete suitability by the november 15th decision deadline If that if those materials aren't in by those days or if something else arises it becomes more complicated It may not get done So basically there's no guarantee in you know, if they if they meet certain timelines It's it's it's likely that we'll be able to to get the investigations on that need to be done but if those timelines aren't met or if Things are more complicated. We would have to say, you know, we're just not ready this year It's not going to happen this year by the november 15th deadline So we're working with those statutory dates, but also trying to give enough time to make sure a full full sustainability investigation can be done Right because what I don't want to incentivize is Papers getting dropped over one knowing That it can't be done by 1115, right and then going on to that temporary to get a toehold So I don't know if there's any other way and this is not for today's conversation And the other way to incentivize getting earlier submissions so that we're not faced with that six week window Of us adjudicating an ibe having to look at suitability Right, I think I think it's in a good place and I'm happy to turn. I haven't looked at it I'm going to be honest that recently. Um, but you know, I don't know if Mina has any other comments Or judy have any other comments on that piece of it But um, I do think we make it very clear in the reg that if if everything's not in Sooner the better gonna it's not going to happen in that time period. So That's that's right. Caitlin and um, you know I think in either at the october meeting or the november meeting we Kind of had a brief discussion in regard to suitability materials and how Any prospective applicant can request permission from the ibe specifically the division of licensing To begin submitting scoping surveys and materials early Um, just so that it's it's not a mad dash from october 1st to november 15th for the commission And specifically the ibe to review a large amount of materials and be expected to reach a decision. So Um, if anything, I feel like applicants have been put on, you know, pretty sufficient notice to start getting their materials in As early as possible with this regulatory framework right Yeah, I'm so i'm comfortable going this way if we find ourselves in a circumstance where it's Not workable. I would be open to the idea of Advancing the deadline on terms of suitability documentation. I know the application and the decision or statutory Uh, but whether we had any authority to say we would expect this in x months prior to october I'd be open to that if it doesn't give approves not to be workable So Thank you for that commissio brian and You know part of this I think is no pun intended Getting the cart in front of the horse, right, which is what? Kind of has happened in the past, right and trying to crunch the timeline Dr. Lightbound, I feel like that's where you are probably On top of making sure that everyone knows this is coming. This is a change. This is different and That they have to be willing to engage with us to ensure a timely decision Yes, um, and this you know ray has has been in front With the commission, you know numerous times and up for comment and all and um the different Uh organizations that we knew might be interested. We're all made aware of that and um commissioner hill may want to speak to it but um the rest of you commissioners know as well that one of the the letter to um The legislature about some possible um changes one of them is to change the October 1 date and the november 15th date And um leave that open for the commission to decide But obviously that's not in place right now Um so commissioner hill commissioner skinner any comments No comments All right. Well, thank you to judy and Caitlyn and dr. Lightbound and mina um We do have this marked up for a vote. So if we do have a motion Chairman I move that the commission approved the amended small business impact statement and the draft of 205 c mr 15 has included in the commissioners packet and discussed here today And further that staff be authorized to take steps necessary to file the required documentation with the secretary of the commonwealth To finalize the regulation promulgation process Second All right, thank you commissioner hill on the second from commissioner o bryan commissioner o bryan hi Mr. Hill hi Mr. Skinner hi And i'm yes, so that's four eyes Congratulations on Getting this done Thank you commissioners Thank you. Thank you all right So now we're moving on to item number nine um deputy general um teresy is going to join us. I see um Vice president general counsel roberts is here also um So kerry with that said can you tell us a little bit about an update with the win bet cessation? Of course. Thank you. Good morning chairman and commissioners So as you recall the commission approved win bet cessation of operations on february 28th As part of its approved cessation win bet had identified that for any futures wagers or parley legs that would not settle during their 30 day wind down period Which was identified as the period of 30 days following the date on which they had notified patrons that they were ceasing operations They would offer essentially fair market value settlements of those wagers They had not completed all of those settlements as of february 28th the date that the commission issued its ultimate decision So the commission included a condition in that decision that win bet continued to offer to patrons With futures wagers and parley legs that would remain unsettled after the 30 day wind down period A settlement amount based upon a fair market valuation of the same bet in the massachusetts market Which includes at a minimum the original stake return to the patron At that time the commission also asked that win bet return and provide an update on those settlements after the end of the 30 day wind down period And that period concluded on march 12 So i will turn it over to jennifer roberts vice president and general counsel of win bet to provide you with that update Good morning, mr. Chair members of the commission and commission staff Uh, I wanted to report that we have successfully settled 63 bets for 16 patrons five of those were settled naturally as a loss because the Selection did not meet the playoff intentions, but we those were settled and paid out and those Checks are being distributed to those patrons as we speak So um Mr. Roberts, would you say it's fair to say that We're all complete I would say what that uh, we're nearly complete. We have a few um accounts that need to be reviewed with staff But uh, we're and then we also have the unclaimed unclaimed funds process That we will have to go through but as far as the futures wagers, I would say that we are complete The commissioner skinner. I see that you have your mic off Hi, miss roberts Just good morning What is the nature of the accounts that need to be reviewed by staff if you would? Yes, those would be uh, what we consider suspended accounts uh, and Anything that we have not had resolved with patrons with those accounts suspended with funds remaining That would be the nature of the um discussion Okay, and and and you've already conducted outreach to those individuals at this point. Is it just a matter of catching up with them um to get them to respond. Well, how what is this how is How it has the communication been left if any at all? So the those would be uh potentially accounts that may have been suspended for um further investigation So it would be Not necessarily something we would communicate with patrons Uh because of maybe certain activities So it it would be a status of those accounts We're in the process of completing that review internally and we'll work with staff to get those resolved Got it. Thank you for the clarification. Of course any further questions We just really missed you vice president roberts and had to bring you back. So Always happy to come back Every time you think you're done We pull you back in so um, we appreciate that. Um anything else to provide? Um carry Nope, that's all for me. Thank you very much Thank you both and I have to say um, I appreciate carry's diligent work on this. I know it's been um very appreciated and and the partnership from win bet and um where we're um Happy that we were able to to make this process work Thank you. The commission staff has been great to work with so but much appreciated Thank you all right with that we're going to go to item number 10 and We're going to move to our sports wagering division. I see andrew stefanon um Looks like we have a couple of issues coming up. Uh first andrew you're going to deal with The sports wagering operator wager limitations issue Yes, correct. Good morning commissioners. Yeah, again the only item I have for your review today begins on page 161 Of your packet and this is a discussion only around the topic of sports wagering operators imposing wager limits or limitations Or additional wagering restrictions on their customers This is being brought forward today as it originally stems from a comment made from the public submitted last year Bringing forward the question if the operators are permitted to conduct this sort of business practice And it wasn't until recently that our division was able to fully investigate this topic We took the time to fully review the related regulations performed an extensive review of the operator's house rules Including their terms and conditions On this topic as well as their approved internal controls We also discussed with our legal team and then lastly met with Separately with operators who provided much further insight and additional information providing a general overview of wager limitations We'll start today by quickly defining wager limits and sports betting just to give you an overview Revisiting the regulations on the topic and then relating the regulations to the approved house rules Reading some terms and conditions and then turning it over for questions and discussion Um, so to start what is a limit or wager limit in sports betting the limit indicates the maximum wager amount Permitted for a particular event These limits are determined by the sports book operators themselves sports books set limits for risk management And then more importantly to preserve the integrity of the sporting event taking place Limits help maintain fair competition to prevent undue influence of bets on the outcome of gains by preventing excessively Large bets are best looking to take advantage of certain situations and we'll get into those shortly Also limits are determined on a per customer basis an example of a wager limitation Maybe you try to place a 1000 if you're a limited patron You try to place a $1,000 wager and the sports book will flag it immediately and say that you can only bet $120 on this particular wager just an example as an example Um, next if we want to move on to the regulations if you don't mind I'd like to share my screen with the regulation language pulled up It is also in your memo, but seeing it all together may be helpful as there is some additional language you can read together Um, so bear with me I always hope that i'm sharing the right screen Can you see the regulation language? Yep, we see it So we have identified two regulations surrounding wager limits the first being 205 cm r 247 Section three subsection l where it mentions maximum payouts and i'm going to scroll back up to the top just so we can follow this closely 247 02 is the regulation requiring Operators adopt comprehensive house rules for the customers and make it accessible to the public As you're aware, these are the same house rules approved by the commission at launch as well as any subsequent changes that we bring forward Moving on down to section three of the house rules um Is it lists all the required items that must be addressed at a minimum and as you can see it is a extensive list I'll scroll all the way to the Bottom just so you can see how extensive it is and we're going to focus on letter l subsection l maximum payouts must be addressed Again, it's in your memo, but i'll read it verbatim here However, such limits must only be established through limiting the amount of a sports wager And cannot be applied to reduce the amount paid to a patron as a result of a winning sports wager Our interpretation of this is in an operator can limit an initial sports wager by a patron But cannot reduce the amount paid for a winning ticket So after an event is settled the operator may not pay out less It was already awarded to the customer if they are limited for limiting purposes Moving to the second regulation That we've identified is 205 cm r 247 08 Which addresses minimum and maximum wagers and additional wagering requirements Again, it's in your memo, but i'll read verbatim from the regulation on my screen starting with section one Unless otherwise directed by the commission There is no limitation as to the minimum or maximum wager a sports wager and operator may accept This rule does not preclude a sports wager and operator from establishing its own minimum or maximum wagers Or limiting a patron sports wager for reasons considered necessary or appropriate by the sports wagering operator Further in section two a sports wagering operator shall provide notice of the minimum and maximum wagers in effect for each sporting event Or wager category and any changes there too in accordance with 205 cm r 247 03 section three And section section three just addresses how patrons can wager below or above established minimum or maximum limits Usually upon patron requests And then lastly section four states nothing in 204 708 shall preclude an operator from establishing Additional wagering requirements consistent with their house rules But the language will focus on is in section one and again This link again i'll reread it this rule does not preclude an operator from establishing its own minimum maximum wagers or limiting a patron's wager For reasons considered necessary or appropriate So we have those two or three sections in 247 08 as well as the house rules that we've read Limiting a sports wager where an operator may only establish through limiting the amount of a sports wager not the amount of a winning ticket Moving down to the house rules excerpts in your memo All the house rules contain similar language related to maximum payouts and limitations For example, betmgm states maximum payouts Shall only be established through limiting the amount wagered and cannot be applied to reduce a winning wager amount as we've just read in our regs Caesar states the maximum wager can be restricted or increased based on internal management review per customer Based on sport or event and includes all wager types Draft kings reserves the right to limit the maximum bet amount and may be lowered in its sole discretion All bet selections are subject to pre-imposed limits set solely at draft kings discretion Which may be lower than the limits mentioned in the sport specific limits Even the retail books have similar language as you can see on the next page of the memo where encore boston harbour management Will determine the minimum and maximum wagers on all events and can set a lower or higher wager amount per patron For any offered event or wager type Lastly and this is not in your memo But each operator also has terms of service or terms of end conditions where this is also addressed Two examples i pulled up earlier in fanatics terms and conditions. It's stated that fanatics quote reserves the right to limit the amount You can deposit into your account for any reason or to otherwise limit the amount you can bet you agree to abide by those limits And then for psi or esp and bet it states psi reserves the right to refuse or limit any wager or bonus For example by setting minimum or maximum amounts Which will be set out embedding rules or by setting wager requirements or change such limits at its sole discretion for any reason whatsoever without notice to you And if you look back at the regulation in 247 08 section 2 It only states that an operator shall provide notice of the wagers in effect for each sporting event and those changes Not provide notice to the to the actual individuals limits have changed Um, and that's all i've prepared for the memo portion of your packet. I would like to open it up for any discussion as intended Prepare to answer a few questions on what is deemed necessary appropriate or perhaps touch on some other customer comments But i'll leave that to you commissioners on how you wish to steer this conversation today But as I do close here commissioners, this is not meant to be an end all discussion on this topic by any means But rather just notice that our operators are currently complying with our established regulations As I said at the start we did meet with the operators We reviewed internal controls in terms of additions and we ensured that the approved house rules on this topic meet the minimum requirements of the regulations However, if the commission does have additional interest in this topic We do have ways to explore those options with our licensees or even revisiting the section of the regulation at a later date But with that, I will turn it over to you for any discussion or questions that I may be able to help answer commission Thank you manager steven Mr. O'Brien, I see your microphone's on um, thank you. I and thank you for the overview of the regs the um The thing that really has been jumping out at me looking at this is I think it's accidentally omitted from the memo you read it in the actual reg at the end of 247.081 um That the it is by the sports wagering operator and when you go when you look through your recitation of How it's done. There's a lot of language saying, you know Basically at the discretion of the management, um They reserve the right the licensee would reserve the right to accept or reject certain requests if you're trying to go over a minimum a maximum and What struck me is that From my view, this is sort of the beginning of our conversation because it seems to me That the reg and their house rules put a tremendous amount of discretion in their hands in terms of You know, and there's a there's a business reason for some of it, right? Like laying off to make sure you're balancing You know what you're putting out there But there's a deeper issue here in terms of Individual patrons and I think we've all talked about this Particularly in light of some of the coverage that's been out there recently the wall street journal article about the vip And how they extend credits to vip's on individual things Then we've had the queries of people saying well, why am I met? Why am I limited and what I could put in what's the rationale for that and You point out that their house rules very vaguely talk about You know management in their sole discretion management reviews and approves what I'm curious to know as a commissioner is What's the basis for that? How and why are they making these determinations? Because I think that's critical to whether we need to amend this reg And also I think would help us as we go forward mark talked about some of this You know the research we're doing on ai whether or not we're going to be moving into a reg that's going to require Some of the information that may very well go into those determinations whether we're going to have them You know proactively using that to flag problem gambling And particularly I the The query that went out from senator blumenthal this week that went to I think with one exception all of our licensees that are active asking for some information on this Just as an aside I as one commissioner would really love for them to give us copies of whatever they're submitting in the april 8th response to senator blumenthal Because to me this is the beginning of our conversation So I thank you sports wagering for kicking us off But I do feel like we're going to be doing a deeper dive in this as we go forward Yeah, certainly and I am prepared to answer what is deemed necessary and appropriate if that may answer part of your question commissioner o'brien I think it's more my quit my guess is that as we asked them to come in and tell us how I would fully expect some of this for them to say look, this is proprietary right in terms of how I'm functioning And they may want to do that in an executive session to the extent we can have public conversations about it that guide it in a general way That's great But I do think some of the questions we're all going to have may go deeper into proprietary choices certainly yeah Richard o'brien, thank you for that and as you were talking and as I was looking over the packet I thought this could be right for two really two different things one is around table Right that is public and be an executive session talking about Kind of what the operators view as as The rationale as you put it, um, you know another piece. I was thinking about is you know What's the fairness to the patron in the notification right? We did get some outreach just so the public knows through emails Um, and there were several Folks who said hey, I'm I'm betting pennies when I'm when I'm putting in the bet And so, you know, what's the notification right and if you're turning? off a winning wagerer Are you turning off a losing wager or to to commissure o'brien's ai point? Um, but that being said something I've been thinking about commissure skinner. I see your microphone's off Yeah, thank you. Um Commissioner o'brien. I hear you. I also hear you chair Um, I feel the same way um, I was reminded As I was preparing for today's meeting of the Comment that we got I believe it was in july of 2023. It might have even been before that um As well as reviewing, uh, the comments that we received over the past several days That For me, this is about fundamental fairness and transparency to the consumer to two patrons where you have a situation where a patron is losing and being encouraged through, you know Outreach outreach by an operators vip staff and incentives What's what's the balance when? That same patron begins to win Um, so I think that is something that needs to be explored and and it really is about and I understand that there Are probably legitimate business decisions that are made by our sports wagering operators here I don't discount any of those But I do think there should be A way for patrons to really understand What might get them limited? When we review these excerpts and overwhelmingly as commissioner o'brien said it really is at the operator's discretion And there's no no real way for a patron to understand what's happening and oftentimes the Chief complaint is that The operator won't let them know what has happened um I think that Our regulations yes require The house rules to speak to minimum and maximum wagers But I just don't think that that goes far enough in addressing some of the concerns and complaints that we've heard about over the past Few few more so in the past few days So the other question is how How much of an issue is this right because aside from this week? I think it was just that one prior comment might have been two, but really it's just How big of a problem is this and can we find that sweet spot? So such that the sports wagering operators are protected um In terms of their business model And the consumer is protected Well said commissioners Mr. Hill Uh, nothing to add mr. Chairman. I agree with both of my fellow commissioners and the thoughts that they have um Given us today today's the start of a conversation that's going to continue And I think the public needs to understand that we are going to take this very seriously And I like and I like the idea that we have a round table on this issue But I also feel strongly we need to get our operators in here and ask some very hard questions And if we have to go into an executive session so be it Thank you. Mr. Hill. I think the team hears where we're coming from on this. I hope that um We can maybe get this scheduled and then you know at least start talking about scheduling in the next week or so and um Happy to continue this conversation All right, so we'll move on To we're going to stick actually with the sports wagering. We're going to go to manager crystal boshaman who's going to talk a little bit about Balli's operational plan She did at the urging of the commission reach out to balli's and I think she has some information Good morning. It's because still morning. Good morning I'd say brief correction there Bruce director band actually did the outreach there and um, I do have a little bit of an update and being it looks like I'm last I promise not to hold you up. It's really short um So we the sports wagering division as well as other key staff to this process from mgc met with the launch team on monday From balli's and in that meeting they did share their project map and timelines As for the next couple months and they articulated that they understood the requirements for the certificate of operations And they had no issues with any element of the letter that we'd sent telling them what the preparation was and what the needs are Um, which we set that last week outlining the particulars I think some of you may have seen that but it was a a pretty detailed list of exactly what would need to take place before that happened um In addition, they they noted that they have had Initial conversations with gli related to our jurisdiction Which gli actually confirmed we spoke with them on tuesday And I think the key update is that going forward We're going to be meeting with them every two weeks Which we have done with other operators as they launched just to discuss status updates and any identified issues to make sure everything Moves for it as planned and everyone's in touch with who they need to be within the organization to make sure all questions are answered reporting is set and The requirements are met. So that is my brief update, but if you have any questions, let me know Thank you crystal. I see commissioner brian has her microphone So, um, yeah, thank you crystal is and if you can't answer this you can't answer this in public but is there an anticipated date because I think all five of us, you know commissioner skinner could have asked this question To bring it to the floor But I think all of us are interested in seeing them in front of us and let or and or getting a more Concrete understanding of their timeline Yeah, certainly we can facilitate that. Um There didn't seem to be any hesitance. We can arrange that I'm I'm not certain because I don't have the timeline in front of me though. I believe it was around july so And that and that's you know anticipated timelines. So we could see where that truly lands, but yeah, absolutely. I think that um If you want them on a future meeting, we'll just get that set up for you guys I would like to hear from them. I don't I don't know how my fellow commissioners feel Well, mr. Tim and I was going to suggest that Or ask I I actually thought they were going to be here today So unless I misinterpreted something from the last meeting I too Would like to see The representatives become before us Thank you commissioner hill Mr. Skinner Nothing much to add other than to say, you know, I was that's where I was last Meeting um in making the request that they appear. So I I would join my fellow commissioners and only say that um You know, we're excited This is a piece of this knowledge As we've said over and over again this commission and we're excited to see are they're taking this and we want to make sure that You know, massachusetts is getting the The attention it needs and that the people of the commonwealth are are being well represented by this commission So it's not out of malice but actually towards of interest and and support Uh that we want to bring a man at least from my perspective um So I think you've got Got your direction By indra boschman any questions for us No, I don't think so. We'll work with grace on what the dates are coming up and see when we can get them on the agenda And I'll try to take care of that before the next agenda setting me Thank you. I appreciate it and um, thank you for the work and um Appreciate um bruce too and the work that he put in director band Um, okay, so that takes us to number 11 and uh commissioner updates. Do we have any commissioner updates? I'll just briefly say that we are planning on attending an event at td garden Uh with the attorney general president baker from the nc double a marlene warner from the mass council Our own commissioner hill will be representing us and we're excited about that as well as other key stakeholders I think it's going to be a great event to Discuss how we can tackle underage sports wagering which everybody in this building here at the massachusetts gaming commission is interested in Um, so that's my only update. Um Any other business That we didn't anticipate All right, um, what that we have a motion to adjourn Move to adjourn Second from commissioner hill Roll call mr. O'brien I Mr. Hill Hi Mr. Skinner Hi And i'm yes. Thank you everyone for attending the meeting