 Good morning. I call to order meeting number 261 of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on February 14, 2019 in our offices at one on one federal street here in Boston. Before I turn to our agenda, I wish to introduce myself. I'm Kathy Judd Stein, recently appointed chair to the commission. I wish to thank Commissioner Gail Cameron for her immediate past service as our interim chair. And I wish to thank all my fellow commissioners, Executive Director Bedrosian, and the entire team here at the Gaming Commission for your warm welcome. First on the agenda is the approval of the minutes. Commissioner Stevens. Sure. Thank you, Madam Chair, and welcome aboard. In your packet, you have the meeting minutes from the January 24th meeting of the commission. I would move their approval, except for any material changes or grammatical corrections. I would like to add under the 1008, 2017 Suffolk Down's unpaid winnings that we mentioned that Senior Finance Analyst Chad Bork was on hand to assist Dr. Lightbound in reporting the financial numbers to the commission. But other than that, I feel the minutes are ready for our approval. Second. Any further discussion? So there's a motion with the amendment. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? I'll be abstaining. So 4-1, chair abstains. As to February 1st, Commissioner Stevens. Sure. Madam Chair, in the packet, you have the meeting minutes from the very brief public session that was conducted on February 1st, 2019. I'd move the minutes to be approved again subject to any immaterial changes or grammatical corrections. We have a second. Second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Again, I'll be abstaining. So the vote is 4-1 with the chair abstaining. Next on the agenda, item 3, Executive Director Bedrosian. Do you have an administrative update? I do. Good morning and welcome, Chair, new Chair, and of course, happy Valentine's Day to the commission. I'll have two updates. One is a update on staff. I want to introduce a couple new staff members. We have new financial investigators who are here with us today. David McKay. Dave comes to us from a public accounting firm where he was a Senior Assurance Associate and he graduated with a BS from Bryant University and MS in Accounting and Taxation from University of Hartford and was the college roommate of one of our previous financial investigators. And I'll leave that as just sort of a tease for you to figure out later on. We'll figure that out by the end of the day. Yeah, I thought. So, in Feizu, I'm probably mispronouncing your last name, Fe, and I apologize for that, comes to us and she's worked in diverse backgrounds in the field of finance and accounting. She was with both State Street Bank in Santander and worked as a fund administrator, financial analyst and regulatory reporting compliance. And she has a degree in both finance and MBA from Bentley University and they've actually, they're not new, new. They've been here for a little while, but they've been, they went out to UNLV to get some training. So, they missed a meeting so we're a little late in introducing them, but we want to welcome them and know they'll do a great job. Welcome aboard. Welcome. And I see you already got on board. You were up at the Valentine's Day brunch earlier. So, you're assimilating. Good work. The second part of my Ministry of Update is just to give you an update on a couple agenda items for today. Item number six, the licensing division. I'm going to ask that that matter actually be pushed off to the next meeting, which we at this point anticipate will be February 28th and that reason is it might work with a MGM quarterly update. We can address everything in total. So, the last update I have for you is you'll notice again, item number 10, there's an executive session listed on the agenda. And as an update, since our last public meeting, as anticipated, the judge in Las Vegas has issued the preliminary injunction, which prohibits the IEB from using certain materials in its report until the matter can be more fully litigated. I note that the preliminary injunction can be found on the Clark County website. The IEB at this point is reviewing the preliminary injunction and its impact on the report. Our outside counsel are reviewing our legal options, including some complex jurisdictional issues. These are issues I anticipate you'll hear about in today's executive session. We've listed a vote after the executive session in the event. There's any commissioned action that needs to be taken because of your discussions, but there's no necessity or assurance on that. So, those are the updates on the agenda and that is my administrative update. Whether we have a vote or not after the executive session, we'll figure that out during the executive session or is it fair to say that we will not? I think that's something you'd want to reserve the right to discuss during the executive session. So, in that you'd probably report that you will come back after the executive session and you may come back just to say we came back and that's it. So, anything else? Great. Thank you very much. Thank you. Item four, I'm going to spend the end up, please. Good morning, commissioners. Good morning. Good morning. Today, I provide a brief status of the 2019 Community Mitigation Fund applications. I'm joined here by Joe Delaney, Construction Project Oversight Manager, and fairly soon, Mary Thurlow. My purpose here today is to just give you a brief overview of the process that we plan to take to review these applications. I'm not planning to get into any detail regarding any one of the applications. Indeed, the review team has not even met yet, but I just wanted to remind the commissioners and remind those in the audience of the process of how we're going to take a look at these applications. Before I begin, I just wanted to note that in your packet, there is a memo that describes all of the applications that we received. Since that memo was written, we have determined that there is one additional application that was submitted. We're checking to make sure that it was timely submitted. We have every belief that it was timely submitted from the city of Springfield regarding the focus, the previous focus application, MGM Springfield's location in the facility, the focus cable access provider right out at the corner of state in Maine. So that application, which we understand was submitted, was for approximately $555,000. It is not reflected in the memo before you. We will try to get that updated before the end of the meeting and we'll post the correct memo. We apologize for that error. So in total, with the new focus application, the commission received 24 applications worth approximately $5.6 million. Of that $5.6 million, $200,000 was previously awarded to the southeastern regional planning and development district. So only $4.4 million represents new funding. Our targeted spending for this year is approximately $6.7 million. We have approximately $5.2 million left in the fund that has not been awarded or otherwise allocated. This is the first year that the mitigation fund has begun to receive 6.5% of the revenues from the tax on gross gaming revenue from the Region B Category 1 licensee, MGM Springfield. Over $1.5 million of revenue was placed into the mitigation fund from MGM Springfield by December 31st of last year. So thereby thus so there we have this is the first year that the commission plans to split the fund by region based on our guidelines whereby the funds generated in each region are targeted to stay in that region after we account for all grants that we make for category two licensees. So let me just give you an example to make that a little bit more clear. So if the commission awards a total of approximately $200,000 in grants relative to the category two licensee, we would have approximately $5 million left out of the original funds to be split between the Region A and Region B regions. So we would have $2.5 million for the west, $2.5 million for the east. However, as I just stated that we have approximately one and a half million dollars from MGM Springfield revenues. So based on the allocation that we made in the guidelines, there would be four million dollars available in the western region and the Region B region and $2.5 million for the Region A region for this year. So as you'll see in the packet we have a member that summarizes the funding amounts and gives you a little detail regarding the applications we received. It matches up the applications we received versus the spending targets that we established in those guidelines. So I just want to work a little bit backwards from when we plan to issue these awards. We're hoping to have determinations made well by, well before the beginning of the new fiscal year. So we aimed to do our awards by June of this year similar to what we did last year. However, there is a potential that we may come to the commission with some recommendations before that June date. Last year we came to you with some public safety recommendations and some workforce recommendations before that June date because of the need to move forward with applications earlier to prepare for upcoming potential impacts. So the review team that we have is comprised of myself. Commissioner Stevens is joining us this year. Catherine Blue, Derek Lennon, Joe Griffin, Joe Delaney, Crystal Howard, and Mary Thurlough. And we also have the assistance of the IEB for public safety related items. So for the next steps we will reach out to our licensees. As the commission knows, we ask the licensees their opinion on the applications. We post these online. We ask the regional planning agencies their opinions. And then we will also get a memo from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation regarding transportation items. And then we will meet with all of the applicants in short form to go over any concerns we have with their applications and give them the opportunity to answer any questions. Before we have that meeting we welcome any questions from the commissioners that we could raise to those applicants. And after that we'll come back to the commission for a recommendation like I said hopefully no later than the beginning of June. Thank you. John, remind me in the past we talked about now that we're going we're thinking and considering this split of the regions. We talked about instances in which maybe monies begin to build in one region relative to the other or are committed and not used. Do you want to talk a little bit about what we're anticipating? So what we determine if there are unused funds from any one year we would keep those funds in the region for up to three years. And then after that third year then they could flow back into the general fund and be available for all regions. Right. So we're planning on on starting that with this year. That's right. And again these are guidelines that we review every year so if there are certain circumstances that become difficult we can review them again next year but that's the plan we worked it out after a lot of comments from our regional partners and from our local partners on how they would like to see that split. Right. Now so we we have just a general number of four million for Region B. It's the two and a half and the 1.5 that's projected to flow for the for the current fiscal year. That's right. How many what's the number that came from that region relative to that four million? Okay so we have I didn't quite total them. Yeah no no no it's right at the bottom of the memo so we have from Region A we had approximately 3.187 million in funding requests. Okay. And then in Region B we had approximately 2.2 million. Okay. With the addition of the $555,000 application for Springfield. Okay. But these of course are preliminary numbers they'll they'll get reviewed by the review team and that's right like that the way you've done in the past and we'll get with a much better sense of those numbers as the process continues. That's right. On Bud's and Zimba I had a similar related question knowing that the numbers are larger this year with the opening of a Category 1 casino the review team will be utilizing similar criteria though meaning the nexus has to be there for an impact from the casino. That's right. No matter what the dollars are. Right. They really still have to meet those our guidelines correct? We really believe that we have to be responsible stewards of these dollars and the statutory purpose for these dollars is to make sure that we offset costs related to the construction or operation of gaming facilities. We get a lot of very worthwhile projects every single year but the difficult job is for us to make sure that it is really directly connected to the to the casino. So even though we have a number of applications generally the recommendation from the review team is that we would fund that we recommend funding less than those applications for example last year we had approximately approximately eight million dollars worth of applications and the review team recommended about five. So those same guidelines will be implemented even though the dollars are larger? That's exactly right. Okay thank you. And one thing that I think perhaps goes without saying but it's important for just for the record my estimation here is that there's substantial requests now coming from host communities specifically I'm thinking of Springfield and the statute also anticipated and there's a lot of monies that come to the city from the casino as part of the host community agreement. So as we as a review team reviews those requests an important thing to consider is whether anything has already been anticipated as part of the host community and is either not addressed or addressed partially or addressed totally and in order for us to make the funding approval accordingly. That's exactly right that's one of the other tough questions that we ask during these sessions of what are the anticipated purposes of these funds the host community funds and the surrounding community funds every year and we we include all of that information in the packet that we provide to the commission at the end of the year but indeed in past years we have rejected applications because it was covered by host community provision. I think there's a there's another we're getting to this phase where we're also going to be able to rely on a lot of the research that's being done that you know Mark and his team are doing around community impacts as well so we have our own base of information make some of these decisions as well. John just real quick we do face a statutory deadline for communities to apply that's kind of hard and fast did you anticipate some applications that didn't come in because people communities not able to hit that February 1st deadline or is it becoming kind of process now that they know when it's going to be? Well the big omission was the Springfield application where we were very surprised that I didn't seem to have that application in the background behind that is there was an application that was made this past year for that and then the city withdrew that application because there is very little time left before this current deadline in this current program so we anticipated that they're going to withdraw last year's application submit this year's application and indeed it looks like that they did but in a larger sense I think you're right we have only six months we're only six months into the operations of MGM Springfield and it takes quite a bit of time before communities can really understand the true impacts so we'll see we'll see over time what other additional applications we will get and I imagine all of our review teams and our local committees will explore with a range of impacts that we would need to build into future year programs but everybody is familiarity with that February 1st statutory deadline yeah that's when it's got to be in and it's kind of accepted business practice at this we send out numerous reminders and it's on the combine system you know sometimes that gets a little glitchy and we're working to improve all of that okay thank you thank you thank you thank you next on the agenda item five director griffin you'll be reporting on workforce supplier and diversity development good morning director happy valentine's day good morning thank you very much happy valentine's day to you so Jill Griffin I think we're supposed to still do that so today I'm here to give you an update on some of the major projects that the workforce supplier and diversity development department or team is working on and the first I'd like to update you on is a request for responses in rfr that we posted on February 1st called built to last which will be a summary of the best practices for diversity in construction in the lessons learned and we really seek to capture both lessons learned and the best practices regarding the construction of all three of our licensees projects we envision the end product to be a lasting legacy based on interviews of project stakeholders many of whom are regular members of the access and opportunity committee meeting and and have invested significant time in monitoring the projects including our licensees their general contractors subcontractors union leaders and community members the bid is posted in combis like I mentioned responses are due by 4 p.m. on march 1st and must be submitted directly into combis the post was sent to about 900 individuals and businesses and we have received a lot of interest in terms in the form of questions but we look forward to reading full proposals any questions Jill I was looking at the at the packet and I noticed there is in what must have been posted as part of this solicitation that the contract was to be fully executed by June 30th of 2019 but that doesn't mean that has to be the performance of the contract has to be done by then correct that's right we intend to spend the money from the the budget from this year but certainly the work could be extended and we realize that was kind of an ambitious timeline we actually extended the timeline so that we could get the you know a large number of really great responses right but I also I also noticed that there is a fourth a four month duration I guess from the contract execution or what is a four month duration a four month duration so we hope to execute the contract in March yep and the selected bidder would have time to interview and gather information for for the report and we're expecting really to receive a draft first and and I think that maybe that's what you're talking about but those are just draft timelines we plan to work with the selected bidder to establish a you know a firm and realistic timeline okay because I was going to suggest that you know you may want to have a renewal option or some kind of you know flexibility relative to the timeline especially to make sure that you don't straddle fiscal years yeah and find yourself in a sort of constrained artificial constrained if you will that's a really good suggestion if the scope sort of slips a little bit so include that in the contracts when you get to the contract good suggestion thank you she'll just a great great great project I even like the title I know you came up with that we're going to provide the list of folks to be interviewed and a lot of those are folks that we've had regular contact with but when I look at the project some of the contractors subcontractors that we may not have as much familiarity with how do you hope to develop that list of folks well I'd like to really pull from our licensees you know especially the category ones they both had award programs they they as well as the using the stick they use the carrot right and so they recognized you know the top performers and I would like to select from that from those lists and and perhaps maybe even pull from the corrective action meetings and see what some of the challenges were there yeah that's a great idea thank you director griffin you said you received a lot of interest but obviously this is a new project so that must mean are the emailing calling and so are you providing technical assistance since it is new to kind of give them assistance on how to be best prepared to compete so everything is going through combines but we've received I want to say more than 20 questions okay that we will also post today actually this morning as we speak it's likely being posted to combines so each of the interested parties is asking questions about you know further defining what the work product would look like and how many interviews and do the interviews need to take place in person or remotely those types of clarifying questions thanks I noticed that typo in the in the solicitation it's in page number four I think it says the budget is $15,000 I believe but paragraph there's the fiscal terms okay there's a there's a fourth zero I hope it doesn't get confused with a hundred and fifty thousand dollars I think the comma is in the right place so we will certainly talk to our finance team about clarifying that in combines great but in fact the budget is $15,000 yes $15,000 that's correct let's correct the record well I think this is a great great effort I hope that many other organizations will benefit from this we'll first have to you know have it done and then see what the response is but given my familiarity with the AOC and all the efforts that you help us help us lead very well this would be a very good very good effort thank you we've had a lot of interest and inquiries about the work of the access and opportunity committee and kind of asking for advice and in talking with commissioner Stebbins we decided that not only to put together a report but we're like we're in the beginning process of organizing an event out in western mass to really highlight some of this work as well so that will likely happen in the spring time so thank you so this is really fun but some of my role much of my role focuses on compliance and as required by chapter 23k section 12 and license condition 11 each licensee is required to submit an affirmative marketing program to enable minority women and veteran owned vendors to participate in the provision of goods and services to each construction project as well as a plan to identify local businesses commissioners at the october 26th meeting you approved on core boston harbors diversity and local business plan provided that the licensee provide additional information you asked for an overview of the gift card program more information about how they plan to mentor some of the local businesses and if they planned to could they provide information about feedback that they would give to firms minority women and veteran owned firms specifically who were not awarded the license and the procurement director has submitted the final plan with these changes and the legal team has determined that no additional approvals are necessary as the changes are non-material so the final copy has been posted on the website but i just wanted to close the loop there i know i updated many of you one-on-one so additionally to follow up on this plan on january 29th i convened what we call our vendor advisory team in this room we had 25 to 30 chambers of commerce state entities that focus on business community groups city officials to to get more information on procurement needs and and opportunities and we plan to convene this monthly also in the in the packet is a flyer from encore boston harbour regarding hiring and and there there we go one of one of their first hiring or one of the first big hiring fairs is taking place on february 24th to 25th at the Heinz convention center and as we did with mgm we update the commission and the public on the goings on they're providing exclusive access to the host and surrounding community residents from seven to nine a.m on those days and if you could flip to the next page they're specifically focusing on those particular positions and very broadly in many different categories across the organization so from food and beverage to gaming what is this hiring event again um february 24th and 25th so it's uh i believe it's a sunday monday um so yeah will you will you be attending have you attended prior prior events like this yes um this will be the i think the largest but i do plan to be there and this this notice did go out broadly to community center not community centers i'm sorry career centers and community groups that are meeting regularly with the licensee director griffin before we go on to the next matter i just want to thank you for the work that you've done that's very innovative in the best practices arena i suspect that that will benefit this commission in our mission but also the commonwealth widely so thank you oh thank you thank you if i could just point one thing out that i thought was interesting in there's a not bad today in the globe by mayor walsh and brian golden the head of and i apologize it was the b r a i know it has a new title but it does talk about boston um thought i shouldn't say following um they don't necessarily mention the casino construction diversity but they talk about the same model and they point next door to where the construction next door that's being done by the same general contractor so certainly we hope we hope the lessons that that contractor learned working with us in everett has made its way into the city so i thought that was a great uh indirectly not directly but at least indirectly um a great nod to the advances that director griffin and her folks have really helped in the casino construction industry so we'll we'll get that out to all of you and get that that clip out to all of you thank you thank you thank you director uh chill just one quick question uh i notice a number of the jobs are interviewing for require will require some licensing do you plan to have our your colleagues in licensing attending or participating or at least providing information well bill curtis and i are attending together um but there is um there um they have um had the licensing presence um at the career center along with um fingerprinting and all of that so um the integration is taking place thank you um director griffin i i i see their um posting here which is very well done um it says please apply online prior to arrival i know that was challenging for some of the folks in springfield applying online is um is her thought given to um assisting those who may not have uh easy access to to a computer yeah i think um applying online is encouraged but not required i see um and i know that many of our um the entities funded through the community mitigation funds um are assisting in those efforts so at some of those locations they'd be able to apply online right right good and help them maybe print a resume prepare a resume right and we've funded also um workforce readiness right efforts that assist in those efforts as well great thank you well done um so um i wanted to also update you on our efforts to improve licensee oversight functions um we're in the process of performing a diversity audit um we've developed a process to perform periodic evaluations of our licensees compliance with their established diversity goals um and as we did with our other licensee mgm springfield we're performing an audit on the diversity information that they submit monthly to our access and opportunity committee meeting um so we met um recently um with Suffolk construction and on core boston harbors construction diversity team and um the intent of this visit was to develop a real comprehensive understanding of the processes and systems in place for the uh compiling of data that they report each month to us so construction oversight manager dope joe delaney program coordinator crystal howard and i are in the process of reviewing this documentation relevant to both um workforce diversity and supplier and vendor diversity um we're conducting spot checks on supporting documentation of several subcontractors that we chose um um looking at the march meeting including we're looking at weekly certified payroll reports subcontractor certification documents email correspondents and corrective action logs um and we really um the intent is to verify the processing and reporting of the diversity data and to evaluate the adequacy of the management controls so we are um in the process of the reviewing of stacks of information um but we plan on submitting a summary memo to the commission's compliance committee at the end of march now jill remind us um the we did a um a similar effort for mgm that's right um and at the time that we did that effort there was a two tier just like you described first ascertaining the how they capture information how they get uh some of the reports themselves and how they then report to us yes and then followed by the you know by the audit if you will the the spot check that you described yes my understanding was that we had already ascertained the system in other words the tier one of encore as well at that time is that the case that was the case um we had some time ago met with encore and um their gc um we had a little refresher because that was some time ago but um and then last um maybe it was monday no tuesday actually we received the documentation um that we intend to review for the actual audit great uh well this i i will look forward to the the end result um at first of the compliance group uh but um i'll i'll just mention for the record for you for your benefit madam chair that um uh based this this process was really thought through based on uh feedback from the state auditor when they first did the the audit um going on uh almost two years ago and i think it's it's really solid uh and i'm glad that we're seeing it to fruition yes and and um we are encouraged by what we see so far but we look forward to digging into the information great um and last but certainly not least we have some regulations um and i think i'm gonna provide a brief um intro and then turn it over to our deputy general council um so currently um we have some diversity definitions um that talk about what is a minority owned business an mbe um a vbe or a wbe um and we um allow certain certifications in those regulations however those regulations pertain right now specifically to construction so what we're intending to do is apply and create regulations that apply to the operations period as well we're not making substantive changes to the definitions but this is the introductory period so i'll turn it over to Ted Grossman thank you jill and good morning commissioners morning as jill described the proposal before you would simply add definitions uh to for mbe vbe and wbe uh that would be a broad application so they would apply to the ongoing uh reporting obligations of the casinos as opposed to just the construction obligations they are essentially the same exact definitions that apply in the construction section of the regulations you'll see some highlighting in the draft before you those reflect some updates since the initial version that you may have seen in the packet they're largely administrative um as you can see there's some capitalization and things of that nature ultimately as it pertains to the vbe definition the point here was to take ourselves more out of the certification process and defer to the osd process just to pick up on part of the conversation from before when we first started doing this there was no process essentially for the certification of veteran business enterprises so we had to create our own now osd actually has one so we're migrating over to their way of doing it so that's what this definition reflects in part as well so this is the first time you've seen this we would ask you just to have a look obviously uh offer any comments we will come back before you at an upcoming meeting and ask that we start moving it through the process we'll circulate this to the licensees and other stakeholders to see if they have any comments before we engage in the formal process um Todd or or or Jill I um we don't anticipate that uh these um definition clarification would in any way change the numbers um that have either already been reported to us by licensees or will continue to be reported this really just adds clarification to the certification it does um I I don't envision any changes um you know I I think um we've been having discussions with licensees regarding um this so I I don't anticipate um any huge issues it may encourage businesses to get certified by our state supplier diversity office or by other entities um but I don't envision any impact in terms of the numbers great didn't our licensees find that they had more uh in particular veterans but they did not really understand a way to register so this may improve numbers correct um the um veteran issues some um veterans don't wish to call attention to their veteran status um but we are others are just unaware so this you're right there are some who may um in hearing this they may um decide to get certified I see and um was there any resolution remember last year we dealt with the change with the um Portuguese population is that still um um yeah Portuguese owned businesses are not considered minority owned businesses right there was any more resolution yeah that was a change a little while ago right so so our licensees um are not reporting PBEs as minority owned businesses um effective the date um that that was determined and by the way if I consider go back to my um prior comment if there's any way in which these changes anything I would want it to be just prospectively no need to kind of try to go back and true up anything that has been reported to us in the past because I think that would be a you know a useless effort okay just in case I think the um this refers to operations and um I don't anticipate Plain Ridge Park casino having any issues and I think MGM is um you know their procurement program is in its infancy right they just open so I don't anticipate any issues director in terms of this notice today this is the beginning of the rulemaking process so we will invite public comment at this point in time right and yeah we would like to hear if there are any potential impacts but we usually this this is the initial draft the way we normally bring a regulation um is to have this kind of discussion brainstorming and questions if there's any edits we send it back to staff come back to the commission and then that begins the the promulgation process so we would not be if I understand this correctly I would not be putting anything to be in at this time to begin the promulgation process that's right that's why it's not scheduled for a vote um our custom has been to have you take a look at it first put it out see what we get incorporate the comments and then come back to you with a formal vote to start the promulgation process okay it will go out for comments again during that process if we get any more comments that's fine and then we'll make final revisions before we come back to you for a final vote on the promulgation right thank you for that clarification can I share thank you council yeah I just to compliment gentlemen Todd because you've been working on this for a while we all knew kind of the problem that was in front of us was no existing process especially in the area of veteran certification they thank you guys and working with licensing came up with a process that was a stop gap glad to see SDO came up with their own process and we certainly pushed people to that we met with the folks at SDO to make sure the process was easy convenient and in the inexpedient and they can pretty much you provide all the paperwork they can usually turn around a certification in less than 30 days or about 30 days so it's a quick process so I did have a question under and again something for you to think about or comment under the women in business enterprise you talk about the SDO certification and the women's business enterprise national council that's the certification that our local friends at the Center for Women in Enterprise give out should we add the CWE name or mention it just so it kind of clarifies for anybody who has the we bank certification they may think of it as well I got the CWE certification but just kind of maybe clarify that by either adding their name or referencing that folks might have gone through that process as well just so they're not somebody reading this doesn't think oh my gosh I got to run out and get another certification we could certainly clarify that they are the local entity that provides the national certification but we could certainly clarify that thank you oh the CWE is the local chapter of the of the we've so just to avoid any confusion over what I actually have is is is certification again I haven't seen the documents so it may say the we bank name on it but yeah it does we also know CWE is a is a is a big player in this efforts that's a good suggestion any further questions thank you very much thank you thank you as to item six as second director Borosian Borosian mentioned that item was moved in Obi heard at the February 28th meeting so next on our agenda is item seven research and responsible gaming director van der linden thank you for your update eight good morning good morning chair jed stein and commissioners so I'm providing to you a periodic update on what's happening with the research agenda both in terms of deliverables that were recently released projects or deliverables that are upcoming there's a few other activities that I think are certainly worth noting and at the back of the memo that I gave to you is just a list of an extensive list of the the different reports and publications that have been created as part of mgc's research agenda so I think the last time I provided a report to you was around October so I wanted to just kind of cover for you some of the the reports and provide a summary for reports that have been released since that time we have two reports actually that were just released that relate to trying to better understand at-risk and problem gambling among veterans the first is it was actually just just published on January 18th in the Journal of Gambling Studies and it was led by Dr. Volberg and our Sigma team this study utilized the baseline general population survey that was fielded in massachusetts back in 2013-2014 of that sample of 9,578 participants we identified 129 problem gamblers interestingly of those 129 problem gamblers that were identified 20 percent were identified as as veterans in order to to make this a larger or more robust sample size that smaller sample of problem gambler veteran problem gamblers was combined with veterans that were also identified as at-risk so that we could take a look specifically at their gambling behavior and maybe conditions that surrounded that that the results were interesting the the team identified that having friends and family members that engaged in gambling as well as engaging in more than one gambling format meaning they go to casinos they play the lottery they do sports betting was highly associated with being a problem for at-risk gambler interestingly that they found that participating in raffles in the past year was associated with lower odds of being a problem or at-risk gambler and when i spoke with them at greater detail about that they they said you know a lot of times raffles are are primarily used as fundraisers and not necessarily considered as gambling by by the veterans so there was there was some explanation to try to back that finding up um it's always good to understand what the implications for this for our research are and i think that's something i want to highlight for you in just a few minutes but the implications for this the the team identified that this type of information understanding that that problem and at-risk gamblers are engaged in more than one format of gambling understanding that they they they gamble socially or they gamble with friends and family around them these are important pieces or nuggets of information to have as we think about constructing both intervention and prevention programs that are specifically targeted towards a veteran population the second veteran study that was conducted was actually part of a larger push by the commission to examine gambling behaviors attitudes among groups that would be considered at-risk we funded three of those studies and the next two studies that i wanted to highlight for you actually came from that line line of funding the first was funding that we provided to the bedford va research corporation they set out in their study to evaluate the reliability and validity of the bbgs or the brief bio-cycle of social screening that they would use for among all va patients coming into primary care behavioral health clinics and in bedford they also wanted to try to better understand or evaluate the prevalence of problem gambling among veterans and its co-occurrence with other medical and mental health conditions so the the results here i think are a bit mixed but i i think that there's a lot of directions that this study has gone and will continue to go of the veterans that gambled 5.9 percent endorsed at least one item out of the three items that are on this bbgs or the brief bio-psycho-social screen of those that gambled um that would be of those individuals that had gambled in the last 12 months of the sample as a whole it was 1.9 percent so that would include gamblers that hadn't gambled in in the past 12 months this was very much in line with actually some of the the findings that we had in our general population baseline study but the sample size and the number of veterans that endorsed even one bbgs item was so small that it would be difficult to make a conclusion about the overall prevalence rate of problem gambling or even at-risk gambling amongst veterans so to that end we perhaps the missed the mark on what the overall objectives of that study were but i think it's really what what has happened since is i think incredibly encouraging um without a doubt veterans are are considered at greater risk of developing gambling related harm um that came true to us in our own massachusetts-based research but it's also borne out in other studies that have happened around around the country and so it doesn't we we want to continue to try to to focus on this on this specific group and to better understand how we can we can be of of service so dr shane krauss who is a principal investigator on this on this study is using this as this study as a launching pad to provide additional training to uh to the clinical staff at the bedford b a medical center dr shane krauss is really launched a career and into this area in this line of research and is is quite brilliant and he's he's used this study he's also been involved in a national study of over a thousand veterans that was recently compete completed and it's this this study can continue to try to help and inform the much broader study and still even with with some of its limitations i think adds to that that larger body of evidence that continues to grow so there's also dr dr krauss and his co investigator dr shirk used this study as the basis for funding a funding request with the national center for responsible gaming i didn't include this in here only because i found this out just a couple days ago which is great right what we want is is um is we we have funding for research in this area but what we really want is for this to be used more broadly we want this to continue to to grow to fill in the gaps if there isn't a group that we consider at greater risk probably most likely and certainly with the case of veterans um we get part of this story and um the the research that exists is probably is probably okay but there's certainly ways in which we can better understand um what's happening and how it can be a better service what types of intervention and what types of prevention programs um can more um appropriately respond to to the needs and so to that end i feel like this the combination of these two studies in this one with the bedford v a in particular um i'm i'm excited about and excited to see where where this how this study can contribute and how how dr crouse and dr shirk will continue to do their work and research with v a mark remind me i i thought dr crouse approach um included the dsm five yes so it it did if they if the veterans at intake responded positively to one of one or more of the three item bbgs they went on to a full um assessment that included all of the criteria of the dsm the nine criteria okay so it was a two tier yes okay mark um so the numbers are the same 1.9 percent so the numbers are very similar to general population but you the doctor you you feel like you didn't folks weren't self identifying is that it is that is that what we're trying to find other ways to to reach people is that you know it's interesting that we found in the general population baseline survey right a non-v a based um survey um a higher rate compared to um a survey that was administered under the umbrella of the v a um this is simply my hypothesis it may or may not be true but that that perhaps um when entering into the v a system individuals may be less forthcoming um about what the presenting problems are um maybe that would come out later on as a therapeutic relationship develops with whatever clinician they're they're working with but perhaps there's some hesitancy to be to fully disclose at at admission you're more likely to uh if you're a veteran to answer an anonymous survey unless likely if you're in the v a setting where you might feel that um your employer might take some kind of action um i i i think there's also which was part of uh that is the the limitations and assumptions in the study if i remember correctly from dr krauss um there's also and i i really don't want to make too big of a deal on this but there is different different measuring this is the screening tool um dr krauss used the the bbgs which is a brief tool just three questions before going into a dsm which is a therapeutical type of um q and a whereas our general population survey uses by necessity these the ppgm or or is it the cpi yeah ppgm and cpi problem gambling problem pathological gambling the canadian index it's it's it's like 10 or 11 questions that get you to um to you know whether you're at risk or not or a problem gambler there they're all really good tools and used in in um you know we're using the best tools um available um but there could be at least in addition to what you just mentioned the notion that there's different tools being used to compare similar numbers one other um highlight that that i think is is evolving from this is then we had a very good meeting with secretary urena of the va his chief of staff um they're very interested in and how we can partner we're very interested in partnering to be able to provide um prevention services through game sense to to veterans and in a variety of different settings whether it's our game sense um advisors working directly within the with with veterans or whether it's us training um the the uh staff or veteran advisors um we're we're open to both there was also an interest in in making sure that we make our voluntary self exclusion program uh widely available um across the state and certainly um in advance of the opening of a region a casino um so that's either again either are working through game sense or us um providing training to their social workers to be designated agents so they can provide that enrollment into the the program i think there's great possibility for us to to can continue this partnership and um commissioners zuniga and stephens attended that meeting as well director i think that that's an important point and and i would like to be um kept a prize i'm sure my fellow commissioners would like to be on the timeline of your work with uh secretary arena because we've heard some important findings and so the next steps are so critical to implement these findings for strategies to help the vets get the services they need and deserve so thank you sure really important yeah i agree i agree um the other study that i i'm kind of moving around if you have any questions at all about any of the studies i will do my very best to answer your questions but there were just a few that i i felt like i wanted to spotlight um the next study that was released back in november was um it's highlighted on page four of your memo and it's the casinos and gambling in massachusetts african-american perspectives um african-americans were identified as a group of specific interests because in our general population survey they were identified as having a four times greater likelihood of experiencing gambling related harm than than other groups um while they they gambled less african-americans gamble less they're at greater risk of developing gambling related harm so we wanted to try to get a better understanding of this um dr vega with jsi and his team wanted to do a kind of a broader understanding of of what's happening um i think it's a complex issue when we yes do you mind just clarifying jsi uh it's a research group um a company okay i wasn't clear i didn't know that yeah i didn't i i'm sorry i couldn't tell you what jsi stands for i didn't know that um and so uh dr vega wanted to do some qualitative research to supplement the quantitative research that was done by the uh by the sigma team so again this is kind of this effort to say we have this this we're laying this amazing foundation of research through through sigma um but let's identify perhaps where the gaps are and identify some alternative or creative uh research methods including this type of qualitative research to begin to fill in the fill in the gaps so it did exactly this um it was a relatively small study of using 49 participants so that's certainly something that's important to understand and interpret the any of the findings with with some some caution but i think that it still pointed out some interesting findings um dr vega did five uh focus groups in uh boston everett and springfield that covers it um where these 49 participants were included so under the findings participants describe their communities as being impoverished lacking employment opportunities and need of social services to address mental health and substance abuse problems their primary motive motivation to gamble included financial need as well as recreational thrill seeking participants trajectory towards problem gambling was described as involving playing lottery games um they reported a host of negative consequences associated with problem gambling including obviously losing losing money intended to pay for living essentials such as food and rent but also losing key elements that help them to gain um their livelihood livelihood whether it be losing jobs or losing losing their transportation to get to and from jobs um participants overall were aware that casinos are purposely designed to entice people to gamble more the negative aspects associated with the presence of casino relate to concerns that already exist within the participants communities whether it be crime or drugs gentrification um or a dissolution of of the community ties the positive news views regarding casinos related to what their potential was to create create new jobs and other types of economic benefits that would come directly to their communities so what are the the recommendations from the group outreach in to educate and treat gambling problems should recognize that many believe that they must gamble out out of need and in order to escape poverty that if you have limited resources that um perhaps those read and they can't cover all of the needed expenses perhaps your one way out would be to if you gamble and you would win enough to to be able to get out out of poverty that has a i think a lot of really important implications both in the treatment realm as well as in the the prevention realm we talk a lot uh kind of under the umbrella of game sense of gambling within your means that you have a you have money that would be set aside that would be for entertainment and when that money is gone that that's when you would stop um this is this is something that is i think an extraordinary finding that where specific messaging um could be could be designed to to address that address that specifically um many african americans are our family and community oriented and therefore when we think about um interventions or prevention again i think it's recognizing that this is a great strength um and that should be that should be leveraged can i mention one thing that actually i i had the benefit of seeing dr vegas presentation a couple of times so i remember um one of his findings also which is is sort of captured indirectly here but not specifically uh also had to do with how some of the participants saw the casino as really inviting diverse accessible and welcoming whereas as an african american in other there's other places that are not quite like that so there was this dichotomy in the in in the casino in addition to what you highlight here and i think in addition to what you mentioned relative to game sense one of the things that we should also um think about um and are thinking about is um how the amenities that the welcoming can be there encouraging breaks like we do um to visit the amenities not just the spot machines um is is at least another tactic to to deal with um with this topic great yes exactly they any of these reports the summary that i provide certainly doesn't include the detail that the researchers found so after this presentation these reports specifically will then be posted to to the research page of of our website so viewers people interested can can read more about about what was found so the final piece in order to green bring the greatest benefit residents need to see the added resources and opportunities that casinos are bringing to the community and how they can be accessed um residents need to be reassured that the safety of the community will be guaranteed far beyond the geographical boundaries of of what the casino is and um you know for for each of these points i feel like we we we have an idea of we have something that either is is in motion or perhaps is within within reach and um and so this is it's really good information to have for us to have a broader understanding of perhaps what what the needs are okay um so that's a highlight of of reports that were just recent recently released there's a few more in there that um actually i think were presented by the researchers to the commission so i won't spend time highlighting those we have a few interesting ones there that are coming our way so starting on page five i have pending reports and studies the first that i wanted to highlight is the follow-up analysis of crimes calls for service and collision data in communities near mgm springfield we had a commissioner cameron and i had a good meeting with our crime analyst christ for bruce yesterday to get an update on this it's actually not going to be a three month report it's going to be a four month report he uh was calling us from springfield where he was gathering that finishing up his his data collection in order to do the analysis we we hope to have the the report in our hand for review by the end of the month so that it could be to the commission near the the end of march perhaps march 28th meeting is as pending right now um so that that will be interested that will be a follow-up from the baseline that was presented in um october actually i have a typo on here but it was presented in in october um the next report that i wanted to highlight is uh the massachusetts gambling impact cohort um this is a uh to date um there have been uh four waves of data collection with a cohort of 3 139 adult massachusetts residents this this cohort of roughly 3100 people was drawn from a much broader sample of the general population baseline studies of the out of the roughly 10 000 we have 3100 that we continue to engage with um through this cohort there was an over sample so uh of problem and at-risk gamblers so this even this 3100 people um we have a very rich mix of of individuals that are currently or at risk of experiencing gambling related harm the wave three magic report is under review by our research review committee and a finalized report is expected by by the end of the month that may be a little ambitious but certainly um in march um there are a couple uh really interesting publications or work that that is spinning off of this one is a publication of low risk gambling guidelines for massachusetts residents and another is a publication of a report on the eat a lot ideological predictors of transitions between waves one and three so the first i think um this publication or a better understanding of low risk gambling and how we can use that information through our game sense program and through other other types of prevention programs is really important dr volberg has partnered with other other countries other jurisdictions that are also sponsoring gaming cohort studies to try to bring together as much research power as we can to distill down and and following cohorts over time to better understand what are the what are the risk factors what are the protective factors um that would cause somebody to move from recreational gambler all all the way to a um a gambling disorder or vice versa individuals that have a gambling disorder what are the factors predictive factors that would cause them either to stop gambling altogether or to move down that continuum into recreation if you take all of that data you can begin to to identify themes or in other words guidelines or behaviors that would be indicative of low risk low risk gambling um the game sense program is fantastic and i think that we've developed a set of tools in the in our toolbox and when i think about how do we use our research how do we use science to advance that toolbox to to refine it as best as we possibly can understanding low establishing these types of low risk gambling guidelines is really important uh the second is the ideological predictors of the transitions and that that is much like what i had just described what what are the causes that are causing people to move up and down the continuum of of gambling behavior and you can only get that type of information by doing a longitudinal cohort study um and so the the efforts of of this team in order to keep as many people engaged in this study um is really really quite impressive there's a tendency that you see attrition over time and that eventually you have such a small n number that you've been able to retain that you it loses the power it loses the the ability to do these types do these types of studies dr. Volberg dr. Rob Williams who is the co-principal investigator have done these types of studies before and certainly know some of the tricks to keep people engaged in in a longitudinal study um the next piece that i wanted to highlight is is very close to being launched and this is after more than a couple years of trying to get up and off the ground which is the exportable database or base database of the baseline general population survey and the baseline on line panel um i won't go into great detail but to say that we have limited capacity to do the types of analyses that we do with the enormous amount of data that we're collecting it's incredibly costly to do the analyses that we do so wouldn't it be great if we could make this data available to other researchers where there there isn't a lot of data or a lot of data sets like this so let's make it available to other researchers to do this type of analysis where but honestly we don't have to pay for it but we get the benefit of the analysis and the and the findings so um as we continue down this path with the research program we have an incredibly valuable data set that is being developed we with some some parameters around it want to make that as widely available for research purposes as as possible um we're working closely with our partners at the department of public health in order to make sure that this database is protected with all the appropriate securities and guidelines that health information should be protected with and I'm working with Dr. Tom Land to to build the the access point and build the the requirements around data access and messages my hope is that we have this available within the next 30 30 days an application process will be built into to our website and probably other other locations as well but I hope that we have an application process that can be launched from the mgc website all right uh the final one that I um that well actually there's more uh if you don't mind entertain me just for a few more minutes um I get really excited about this um the the third uh research study that we funded under this um at-risk population uh research um is being conducted by the University of Massachusetts Boston Institute for Asian American Studies they're conducting a pilot study to develop and test methods for recruiting screening and conducting diagnostic interviews among Chinese immigrants living and working in Boston's Chinatown um Dr um the the study is is really quite impressive and it's just taken much longer than um we had anticipated Dr. Wong who leads that um is finishing it up and we hope to have that hopefully for my next update for you within the next couple months a couple other activities that are that are underway we provided a small grant to the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts they are largely responsible for the administering the youth health survey as well as the youth risk behavior survey to students in the Springfield Public School District it's a standardized test the yrbs yahs that is administered to I think many is it seventh tenth and twelfth graders I may have that wrong but it's administered standard um across Massachusetts the Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts um has taken on doing that administering that in partnership with the Springfield Public School District um the our partnership and the the funding that we provided that allowed us to gather more information about um youth gambling behavior and um integrate a uh youth um problem gambling screening instrument I think it's incredibly timely that we we were able to to uh work with this group with the Springfield Public School as well as the Public Health Institute in order to um build these questions in questions in and it would be my hope that we could use this almost as our baseline um by which we can continue to track and monitor perhaps how how um opening up a casino in Springfield Massachusetts may or may not be affecting um director van der linden this is the first time we've done anything with high school students is that correct um that we have correct yes is it is it prevalent any I mean are there any good studies out there with uh with high school students yeah I would say that you know the research isn't great but what research has been done would again would identify this also as a a group that is at greater risk not not of gaining access into casinos um but of gambling on sports um gambling on games of skill gambling on video games well that'll be very interesting um you know e-sports um also I I agree sports betting is of interest and I'm I'm I'm hearing but you know without a study you don't know for sure about a lot of issues with uh online poker with uh with teenagers and maybe even more with college students but so this will be an interesting study I just I think it's great yeah I'm very excited about the the possibility of seeing how how we can what types of information we can we can gain in how this this may um inform prevention services and in the schools no agreed you know if I can mention um the the general baseline population survey um really um one of the big findings was of course that um gambling affects different groups differently and when there was not necessarily a lot of statistically significant information in that study for particular groups what we did since then and this is really the three the three studies that you mentioned two of which have been completed and the third one um with dr wong in just about to be completed uh in other words Asians African Americans and veterans were identified were populations that were identified as having a greater risk compared to other populations and that's the steps we took to to learn more about them in the qualitative arena and that's also the direction in which I see these research agenda expanding there's the notion that in in the statute we'll do another look back on the general population survey that's um the before and after and and we'll that that'll come in due time um but um much of what I think is the excitement that you talk about mark is finding more nuances about how different groups are affected differently uh and develop strategies according we cannot really have one strategy for all groups exactly and I'll talk about the the gaming research strategic plan and as well excellent um just before I move on to that however I just wanted to point out um we we are uh we have one final baseline report to build for our public safety uh research um commissioner Cameron and I again met with with our crime analyst Christopher Bruce yesterday and we've been in the process for a while of planning our kickoff meeting in Everett in the surrounding communities that is scheduled for February 27th this kickoff meeting is basically we pull all of the police chiefs and as many of their analysts as we can together um the host in surrounding communities for region a and we begin defining what it is that we we're setting up to do and try to gain as much um input and buy-in and cooperation as we as we can it's worked phenomenally well so far in Plainville in Springfield and we have no reason to believe that that isn't going to be successful this time too uh yeah for the benefit of our new chair um this is an area how does what does the casino entered into whatever community how does that affect crime and this is something that would very little research in this area partly because uh getting police agencies to participate in sharing their data is difficult they protect their data because it could be used in ways that they would not be comfortable with so we um we we started this and we just went out and asked for their help and said please help us we have this piece to do but we need your help we didn't say we want you to do x y and z we said can you help us and a brainstorming session came about and one of the chiefs recommended our crime analysts that we've been using now for years he's worked out to he's terrific he's very well um uh respected throughout the world actually um and um he's really dug into this project and um so once again we were will the chiefs in the boston area participate and you know pleasantly surprised as always that after sending a letter they are all participating they will all be at the meeting and um again we will ask for their help and and it is a sharing of data and an analysis that we go through but it's really important especially now with uh with springfield and now with ever coming online and one of the things i love about this project is its real-time information so if there is an issue a strategy can be put in place it's not just research driven it is uh real-time data analysis and police chiefs putting their heads together saying hey this is what we see and let's try this strategy to to to in fact try to combat whatever the issue may be so um yeah it's an interesting project and we continue to be um pleased with the participation here in the commonwealth i've spoken about this project at many conferences and people have said to me how the heck did you get the chiefs to participate and said we asked them nicely and we we value their input they know more about their communities than we do so we didn't and it just it just worked for us so mark you you're right about that it really has been um something that uh we're pleased at the participation and once again all of the chiefs here about 10 of them right they're all they'll all be part of our meeting at the end of the month it's great to have you um help lead that i you have the credibility of uh to to bring everybody together and gain their buy-in well thank you for that um finally i just wanted to cover two two initiatives that are that are underway right now as commissioner zuniga mentioned we're we're going through a gaming research strategic planning process um uh chair jed stein you you haven't been involved with this but for the other four commissioners um i i'm working with uh judith glenn she is the principal um at a group called strategic science um so uh judith and i have met with the four commissioners to to try to get a better understanding of what their their needs are out of a research agenda more broadly we partner with uh very closely with eohhs and dph um so to the extent possible we um we also made sure that we interviewed as wide and far as we could to get a better understanding of what um how this research agenda can can help those um agencies uh and inform their programs as possible um i've worked with uh commissioner sevens to uh do some targeted outreach to stakeholders um on the ground in springfield um specifically in the that are have an interest in some of the economic research that that we're doing um it's it's not by any means an exhaustive list of people that we could do but i think that it has has certainly opened our eyes as to what we're doing well um and how we can do a better better job down the line um i've i've described it's the the statute calls for a research agenda um and so that's how i've described it for most of the for the five almost six years that i've been here but i think it's time to start calling it a research program where you you see each each research deliverable each product that comes out of the the research agenda um as cohesive and somehow informs the other pieces of it so i'm calling it a research program um now it's to to kind of symbolize that that we really we we have an enormous um gift to be able to do this type of research let's make sure that we use it to the maximum extent possible so what's kind of bubbling up there's there's a couple things that have really bubbled up through the strategic planning process and let me say it's not done yet but where i think i see this going um one is that we we want to to maximize our ability to to collect data and have it used by other researchers so um developing a really sophisticated very um accessible database for for other researchers and it includes the research the data sets that we have that we to the extent possible that we can share those um but it will also include player card data that's a requirement of the the uh the statute under section 97 so all player card data needs to be made accessible for research purposes as well so that will be included we um we wanted to do a better job of of research translation so um there's a how do you how do you take the research that we have and translate it into concrete policy and practice recommendations as quickly as possible as opposed to the 10 years or so that it traditionally takes for research to be translated into something concrete we want to streamline that as quickly as possible and i think that there's there's almost a new field of research um translation out there um i've i've uh had some conversations with individuals that this is what they do this is their focus so let's let's um i think that the uh research strategic plan will recommend that that we invest in doing some of this translation work as as well um and then finally and it and it goes right along with my next the final thing that i wanted to mention is community engaged research community-based participatory research is a specific type of research that that says we're we we don't necessarily know what all of the right research questions are but the community does know what those research questions are they do know what the what the issues are and so we're doing a great job of of trying to get a picture of what's happening at at at a specific level across the state with the introduction of casinos but we have as i said repeatedly this morning we have some gaps in there and we have um a lot of people that are probably saying that this research isn't speaking to me it's not doing me any good and community engaged research community-based participatory research is intended to address that specifically it is it requires that there's community participation it requires that there's a community process in order to develop to define what the issue is to define the question and to develop a a research plan to to answer the question and that then the findings of that research are used to inform policy and practice and within within the community to empower the community to make those those types of decisions we want it we want the same high level of research that we have across the board so there's a requirement that that even with this type of research that there is there is engagement with with researchers there's also a specific push to though not a hard requirement there's a push in high recommendation that that it compliments the the existing research that we have underway and that it compliments initiatives prevention and intervention initiatives surrounding problem gambling that are being launched now by the department of public health so this i see is a specific arm of the research agenda that would i would like to see and i hope that people agree that would be an enduring part of this research program so yeah this is the let me just emphasize this is a very important next phase of the research agenda and i think it's very apt that you call it the research program some of the things the strategic planning that we had conducted that we are conducting has taken a little bit more a little bit longer than we anticipated but it was necessary and the principles emerging out of that as you mentioned are also very important for us to begin to to think about and we had been thinking about at least a couple the data storage for example as well as the knowledge translation for a while out of necessity one of the the ironies about how much research we're producing is that i felt at times that the next study comes in and drowns a little bit the prior one and the insight you know and the policy next step if you will sometimes can get a little a little lost not in this commission not with these staff but with with some of the stakeholders that are critical to the process outside of these walls so a real emphasis on this knowledge translation i think is going to be very important as we continue these this program yeah and as well the community engagement is almost like the third leg in that stool the data sharing the knowledge translation and the and the community engagement to further essentially the same the same goals yeah yeah make sure that the right research gets to the right people and in a timely way mark great update just just a couple of notes especially as we look at what your the deliverables you've added in fy 19 and we've talked about how some of this research can have some overlay into john xiemba's work potentially into jill's work you know great example is looking at the first wave of the mgm springfield patron survey and using that with local entities on the ground like a convention visitors bureau to better understand why people are coming to i mean they're coming to springfield to go to mgm but where they being drawn from yeah i'm pointing that one out that's ready to launch at the end of i think next week we will have our first wave of data collection at mgm okay with the the segment group so okay let's let's think about those groups that would really like to do a deep dive into the data the other one i'm looking for is obviously the mgm new mgm employee data survey i know you got you and teres have been hard to work on that it was a little bit of a different scenario that we were operating under as compared to the ppc survey but uh when we get a timeline for that you know that'd be great information to have as well yeah thank you great work mark thank you any other questions i'll set thank you very much move on to item eight uh commissioners devins we understand that you would like to present an item for commissions consideration sure thank you madam chair um colleagues as you'll see in uh our packet this week uh there's an attached memo we've been asked to sign a letter of support for mgm springfield's application in the mass historical commission for recognition of their historic adaptive re-us efforts during their development you know throughout the rfa2 process and the construction period this commission has always taken the opportunity to offer our vocal support and plaudits for mgm's efforts we've all understood the unique and open nature of the project however integrating renovated historic buildings preservation of key architectural pieces i believe has made this a truly a unique integrated casino resort among its pure properties i also believe the involvement of the community and the support of mgm ceo helped create this one-of-a-kind facility i recognize as regulators where i always need to maintain our responsibility point out where a licensee needs to take steps to remain in compliance with the law but i i believe we can also take a moment to highlight their successes uh we were involved with mgm springfield's nomination in mass he con last year as an economic development impact project uh again highlighting their project is the largest privately developed construction project in the history of the region um i also think recognizing their success can be rooted in the overall benefit gaming has to the commonwealth um i certainly welcome any edits or comments you might have in the draft language of the letter but i'm hopeful we can prove the letter and allow all of us to sign it and provide it to mgm for inclusion in their nomination packet first commissioner stephens i think well i i would agree that this is a good area for us to be involved um those of us who have watched this since the beginning they have made tremendous efforts to um to really listen to the community and and try to abide by um making that they they assimilated to the neighborhood they really did so many people have commented on that um watching them move that church was amazing right and and that the look of that um up there as part of that project i think is really very interesting i i note that a group of legislators were out last week for the first time and we're so uh positively um their comments were all very positive about uh the improvement to the neighborhood because of the casino and i just know that's not the case everywhere around the country um so i i agree that this is a good area for us to provide support and i move that we we do endorse this uh letter today can i mention something uh you know in addition to um just for your comments and i will be of course um very um enthusiastically supporting this um i think um an important part of this is that the process really worked the springfield historical um commission uh at a first level and and and again we as i look back to to all those um meetings that we had out there that were informed about that process um the and then the mass historical commission uh there was a lot of back and forth between um you know those two groups others they called us and of course mgm um they did not get everything that they wanted initially but they did recognize that um this project was very important for the overall and they were very much in favor of the project all together because it was going to do itself a lot of historical preservation let alone all the economic development that they were also very much in favor but there had to be a number of judgment calls and a little bit of a back and forth for all of that purpose ultimately of of of historical preservation i myself was a a little skeptical about some of the things that remained and uh in in the preservation of course everybody recognized the armory and the church um but then now seeing or you know a few months ago seeing the final product i i think it was uh tremendous i think uh again the the the process uh which is a message that i think is the main message to be delivered to secretary galvin here in the letter is that it it really worked it wasn't without the back and forth that i'm describing but it was well done by all the parties and and in that context i think it's good that it comes from us with that with that message we you you raised a great point um the cooperation in the in the partnership with the the folks on the ground in the city of springfield and springfield historic commission you know i think back to one of the incidents conversation around the chandler hotel yes couple presidents stayed overnight there you know the historical significance um but in in a lot of local advocates were fighting for protection of that building and it wasn't till mgm and the local advocates had a chance to actually physically go through the building that they all realized that the building was somewhat beyond saving in its current state so you know to your point it was uh it was probably not the easiest path to get to where they wanted to be but the fact that all parties including our licensees were willing to listen and willing to kind of fashion through some some compromises i think is what really has made you know project successful yep and i remember at the time a lot of these you know has a translation in additional cost additional timeline which you know it's just the way it is around here you know the licensees would say well it's a lot more expensive to build than it's in Nevada of course but but then the result is also really good to observe and appreciate so we have a motion uh to approve this letter of support do we have a second second any further discussion those in favor aye opposed hearing none five zero great thank you for your leadership commissioner stebbins thank you sir for your support do we have any other business to discuss i i have just one other update update um commissioner cameron along with directors driscoll and griffin and crystal howard had a chance to sit down with our stakeholders in the build a life campaign and kind of review our progress um i think we realize and it was reinforced the program continues to assist with recruiting women to the construction trade and interest always spikes when our campaign visibility is up so we had some good conversation around funding the campaign as we look at um interestingly enough yesterday our partners at the policy group on trades women issues showed us that in 2018 over 600 women enlisted in apprentice programs across the commonwealth um this is a 25 increase from 2017 and look back in the data 2012 the number was 173 in one year so they've had you know we congratulate our partners on their success um question was raised at the meeting about whether the gaming commission could require licensees to hire a certain percentage of women from their construction project into some of the key ongoing facility positions um i'm not sure we saw that there we had the authority to do that at this point however i think it's a a six suggestion our licensees should consider in their overall effort to achieve their goals for hiring minority women and veterans as part of their operational team so it was great meeting yeah i agree and those efforts are tremendous i think we have to give credit to director um um driscoll on that as well because of i mean that's really a professionally done uh campaign and i think the numbers are a direct result of of the campaign itself it's really those those billboards those signs are really effective in fact i i stop and look every time i see one um this one right next door right at this new project so i know how hard um directors griffin and driscoll worked on that campaign and um i did not know was a 25 increase that's a tremendous number remind us what is the goal that they speak about by 2020 their goal is to have 20 percent of the construction workforce in massachusetts be women by 2020 by 2020 uh i think we all understood early on that was a very aggressive goal but i'm impressed with some of the statistics they shared yesterday that show that there's a tremendous upswing and and women are really giving full consideration to a career in the trades is something that provides great benefits great pay and some great opportunities to hear some of those women who work three jobs previously maybe in retail or some other position now uh with one good paying job with benefits supporting families it's really it's inspirational i have one more commissioner uh commissioner update which is just you know um this was brought up speaking about gaps in research um when we were updating over with our partners partners at the Department of Health um a mention to us what would be is there any way that you can look at trafficking in in around a casino and um human trafficking human trafficking yes and you know i still make a distinction because i really do believe there is a distinction between prostitution and trafficking but we are putting a meeting together with um there's some real experts here in the commonwealth uh that oversee um uh human trafficking so we are putting a meeting together with a representative from the Department of Health and these folks from law enforcement and uh with Christopher Bruce are crying out to see if there's something a way to capture data maybe a way to do some training with our with our unit members um you know i'm thinking of course springfield and then Everett um to to make sure that they're observing everything they can about what's happening in the operations we don't want to presume or um say that there is anything going on now because we don't know but i do think it was an interesting observation and look forward to putting this meet pulling this group together to really brainstorm um is there a way to for us to um again train our people so that they they're aware of telltale signs and secondly capture data if there if there is data to be captured so um that's we'll we'll have that meeting later this month as well great i would be remiss not to note that the governor's commission on domestic violence and sexual assault does address human trafficking issues the lieutenant governor's chair and given my most recent job i'd be remiss not to direct you for resources okay great thank you for that okay i do have one update it's sort of out of order i apologize but i think it's appropriate this time uh yesterday mike sang oang our digital communications coordinator walked into my office with an envelope and he also cornered me so i couldn't run out of the office with an envelope accepting the envelope mike is moving on he has a new uh uh position um and uh director driscoll and i just wanted to recognize you know his work with digital coordination communications with all our folks all our different um directors and staff mike was really a utility player and one of the jobs he did very well obviously was streaming these meetings you know um i think the commission has become one of the leaders in streaming and that's in in big part to mike's efforts both here and then when we go out remotely in the field i'd like to think our streaming quality is among the highest um but that's due to mike's efforts making sure the microphones work the cameras are on the right people you know we do we're ADA compliant and all those things so i think unfortunately mike is this the last meeting you will be yep he's given us the nod so um i just we we want to recognize his work and uh say thank you and obviously best wishes yes thank you mike thank you mike thank you very much you will be missed i think he also made us look good not just dream for some of you you know that's impossible for some of us that's what i just never look and mike you can flip the camera one more time at you please thank you thank you very much thank you mike i always get nervous when someone says they had to be an envelope is there any other business for the commission okay item 10 is uh notice for an executive session the commission will now go into executive session pursuant to massachusetts general laws chapter 30a section 21a 3 for the purpose of discussing litigation strategy in the case of stephen a win versus caron wells massachusetts gaming commission win resorts et al given the posture of the case it is clear that a discussion of the commission's strategy in an open meeting public an open public meeting would have a detrimental effect on the litigation portion of the commission commission will reconvene in open session at the end of the executive session do i have a motion to go into executive session so we'll have a roll call vote of the commission to go into executive session i presume there's no further discussion okay commissioner stephens i commissioner zuniga i commissioner o'brien i commissioner cameron i and the chair votes yes thank you the commission is now an executive session all members of the public and any staff members not involved in the matter to be discussed must leave the room i'd ask that all live audio and video recording and the live streaming be shut off and the doors to the room be closed the commission received a briefing today on litigation strategy in the executive session in compliance with the open meeting law which requires that any vote to be taken be listed on the meeting agenda a vote was listed on the exact for the executive session the vote was put on the agenda in the event that the commission needed to take some action based upon the briefing the commission decided not to take any action at this time so no vote is needed and no vote will be taken do i have a motion to close the executive session and reconvene oh and open session we did that so sorry um do i have a uh uh motion to close this executive session this open session my apologies second um and do i need a roll call for this no so all those in favor of a motion to adjourn aye any opposed five five ayes thank you thank you