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SEIGMA Holds First Annual Public Research Day Webinar

For the last six years, SEIGMA has held its Annual Public Research Day as an in-person event; last year's event was held in Springfield (read about it here). In-person restrictions due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has given the team an opportunity to pivot to an online format for this year's event entitled "Springfield's Two Years as a Casino Host Community: Looking Back and Looking Forward" held on October 14, 2020. The reserach day presentation and video of the webinar are available on our News page (https://www.umass.edu/seigma/news). Full reports, executive summaries, individual presentations, and fact sheets for the reports presented at this Annual Public Research Day will be available through the Reports tab on our website (https://www.umass.edu/seigma/reports). 

Álvaro J. Castro Rivadeneira, a doctoral student in epidemiology at UMass Amherst and a Research Assistant on the SEIGMA project, shares his experience in helping host the webinar and explains the benefits of transitioning to this new format. 

MAGIC Study Update: Report on Transitions Across Four Waves

SEIGMA releases follow-up findings on stability and transitions of problem, at-risk, and recreational gamblers through the fourth wave of the Massachusetts Gambling Impact Cohort (MAGIC) study, the first major cohort study of gambling in the U.S.

 

Valerie Evans, SEIGMA’s project manager, explains the importance of this new MAGIC report entitled “MA Gambling Impact Cohort (MAGIC): Transitions across Four Waves.” This report sheds light on changes in gambling behavior across four waves of the cohort with a focus on the stability and transitions of problem, at-risk, and recreational gamblers across four waves of the cohort study. A comprehensive report looking at all five waves of the cohort will be released at the end of 2020.

Lottery Revenue and MGM Springfield: Statewide and Local Analysis

Mark Nichols, PhD, Professor of Economics at the University of Nevada, Reno, has over twenty years of experience analyzing the social and economic impacts of casinos. Working with the SEIGMA economics team at the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute’s Economic and Public Policy Research Group, Dr. Nichols has completed an analysis of the effects of the first year since the opening of MGM Springfield on the Massachusetts Lottery.

Both statewide and nationally, there is concern about the impact of the introduction of casinos on lottery sales. As part of the SEIGMA project, we are in the fortunate and unique position of having detailed sales data from the Massachusetts Lottery that allows us to assess the impact of casino gambling on lottery sales over time and at different levels of resolution (i.e., in host and surrounding communities and statewide). Following the opening of Plainridge Park Casino in June 2015, previous analysis by the SEIGMA team saw an increase in lottery sales in Plainville during the first year after the slot parlor opened even though statewide lottery sales retained relatively stable growth during this time. This was attributed to an increase in lottery sales at the new casino. However, following the opening of MGM Springfield in August 2018, lottery sales decreased for Springfield and surrounding communities, overall, in the first year even though lottery sales experienced a statewide increase in growth. The SEIGMA team will continue to monitor lottery sales in and around Springfield to determine if the first year results reflect longer term trends and whether the addition of another resort-style casino in Everett will have an impact on lottery sales in the Commonwealth.

UMass researchers provide update of Plainridge Park Casino’s social and economic impacts on the Commonwealth

Researchers from UMass Amherst and the UMass Donahue Institute, as part of the Social and Economic Impacts of Gambling in Massachusetts (SEIGMA) research team, released three reports detailing findings of the social and economic impacts of the state’s only slot parlor, Plainridge Park Casino (PPC), to the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC) at an open meeting in Plainville, Massachusetts. 

UMass Amherst researchers release findings on the economic impacts of MGM Springfield construction

Researchers from the UMass Donahue Institute, as part of the Social and Economic Impacts of Gambling in Massachusetts (SEIGMA) research study at UMass Amherst, have released findings on the economic impacts of constructing MGM Springfield. Specifically, these findings detail: 1) where the construction dollars were spent (regionally and statewide), 2) where the construction workers resided and whether it was a diverse workforce, and 3) what were the total statewide economic impacts of constructing MGM Springfield. The findings were released today after the Massachusetts Gaming Commission open meeting in Springfield.

UMass Amherst researchers assess the early impacts of MGM Springfield on real estate conditions in Springfield

The Social and Economic Impacts of Gambling in Massachusetts (SEIGMA) research team at UMass Amherst examined the initial impacts of announcing the MGM Springfield casino license in February 2014 and its subsequent construction on housing and real estate conditions in Springfield, Massachusetts and its surrounding communities. This report was recently released at an open public meeting of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission at the MassMutual Center in Springfield. These findings follow the baseline report that examined housing and real estate conditions in Springfield prior to the announcement of the MGM Springfield license.

UMass Amherst research team (SEIGMA) releases findings on the First-Ever Major Cohort Study of Gambling in the U.S.

The Social and Economic Impacts of Gambling in Massachusetts (SEIGMA) research team at UMass Amherst has released a report on the first major adult cohort study of gambling conducted in the United States—the Massachusetts Gambling Impact Cohort (MAGIC). By surveying the same individuals over time, cohort studies provide information on how gambling and problem gambling develops, progresses, and remits. The goals of the MAGIC study are to 1) uncover and understand populations in Massachusetts who are at a higher risk of experiencing gambling harm and problem gambling and 2) inform the development of effective and efficient prevention and treatment programming in the Commonwealth.

Research professor Dr. Rachel Volberg in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences at UMass Amherst and Principal Investigator of the MAGIC study comments on the importance of the cohort study to assess gambling behaviors in Massachusetts:

“Although this report focuses on results from before the opening of MGM Springfield and Encore Boston Harbor, we have already learned a great deal about how gambling problems among Massachusetts adults develop, progress, and remit—information that will assist the Gaming Commission and the Department of Public Health in crafting the right mix of prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery services to effectively minimize and mitigate gambling harm in the Commonwealth.”

SEIGMA Team Releases Most Comprehensive Report on Impacts of Casinos Ever Undertaken and One-Page “Fact Sheets”

The SEIGMA team has officially released the Social and Economic Impacts of Expanded Gambling in Massachusetts: 2018 report--constituting the most in-depth and comprehensive investigation of the impacts of introducing casino gambling ever undertaken--and 10 Fact Sheets, which are one-page briefings that summarize findings of the social and economic impacts of expanded gambling in the Commonwealth. 

SEIGMA’s Real Estate Report finds Plainridge Park Casino has Minimal Impacts on Real Estate in Plainville and Surrounding Communities

SEIGMA’s Real Estate Impacts of the Plainridge Park Casino on Plainville and Surrounding Communities report examines the initial impacts of the Plainridge Park Casino on the residential, commercial, and industrial real estate markets in Plainville and its surrounding communities. This report follows the Baseline Real Estate Conditions, Host Community Profile: Plainville report that documented real estate trends prior to the opening of Plainridge Park Casino.

 

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