Limited scope for online gambling in Massachusetts?

A large-sample research study in Massachusetts has found that only 2 percent of respondents have gambled online, although 72 percent have gambled in the one-year study period….mainly on lottery action.

The project embraced 10,000 Massachusetts residents and was carried out by the state university’s Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences over the period September 2013 to May 2014.

It considered all gambling genres as part of an overarching project to assess the impact of gambling in the state on an ongoing basis, and reached the following conclusions:

* 72 percent of respondents gambled in the preceding year, with frequency ranging from once a year (40 percent) at least once a month (20 percent) and at least once a week (15 percent);

* Demographically-speaking, the study found that middle-aged, Caucasian males were most likely to gamble. More men (76 percent) gambled over the past year than women (69 percent), with middle-aged people more prone to gamble (77 percent). Older generations in the senior citizen bracket followed at 69 percent, and those aged between 18 and 34 years of age trailed at 67 percent. In cultural terms, Caucasians were the most likely to gamble at 76 percent, followed by Black Americans (68 percent), Hispanics (64 percent) and Asians (51 percent).

* Lotteries are the most favoured form of gambling (59 percent) with raffles next at 32 percent. There are no in-state casinos at present, but 22 percent of respondents said they had gambled in a casino over the past year, with the majority identifying their destination as neighbouring Connecticut;

* Sports betting, which is illegal in the state, attracted action from 13 percent of respondents in the preceding year, with wagers among friends next at 12 percent;

* Just 3 percent of respondents named horse racing and bingo gambling as their favourites.

* Internet gambling registered lowest in the survey, with only 2 percent of respondents saying they had gambled online.

* Overall attitudes toward gambling were interesting; with 59 percent of respondents accepting that the pastime was either neutral, fairly beneficial or very beneficial for the state. On the other side of the line, 41 percent felt gambling was potentially harmful.

* 31 percent thought all forms of gambling should be legalised, but 11 percent of the sample believed all forms of gambling should be outlawed;