More opportunities to gamble legally in Massachusetts haven’t led to more problem gamblers, according to a study presented Wednesday to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.
But surveys used in the University of Massachusetts Amherst report were taken in 2021, while COVID-19 precautions still had places like MGM Springfield partly closed — and before the explosion of legal sports betting across the Commonwealth.
“Every scientist’s nightmare is something unpredictable that comes in sideways on your experiment,” said Rachel Volberg, research professor at the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at UMass Amherst. “I think COVID hit all of us sideways.”
COVID reduced gambling because it reduced the opportunity to gamble.
