The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has asked all seven licensed mobile sportsbook operators to explain how they use artificial intelligence and machine learning, giving them until November 3 to respond. The October 9 questionnaire covers marketing, promotions, customer engagement and the assessment of potentially harmful gambling behavior.
Executive Director Dean Serpa sent the letter to each operator. It divides the inquiry into eight operational categories, seeking details on both the technology companies use and how it shapes decisions about customers.
What regulators want operators to disclose
The commission asks whether operators use AI, machine learning, algorithms, automated decision-making or similar tools for marketing, promotions or customer engagement. If they do, operators must identify each system and explain its purpose, as well as say whether it was developed internally or supplied by a third party.
The questions also probe whether a system makes decisions about individual customers, groups or segments. Regulators want information about the data that feeds those decisions, how customers are selected for marketing, what offers they receive, and when and how often those communications go out.
A central concern is whether account activity can shape promotional targeting. The letter asks if systems can trigger marketing based on a customer’s recent betting, losses, deposits or other account activity, and whether increased losses, more frequent wagering or potentially harmful behavior can make someone more likely to receive an offer.
Operators that say those risk indicators do not increase a customer’s chances of receiving a promotion must describe the controls they use to prevent that outcome. The inquiry also covers behavioral targeting, responsible-gambling considerations, decision-making and human oversight.
Review follows DraftKings report
At a September 24 meeting, commission Chair Jordan Maynard said the MGC would begin evaluating each licensed sportsbook’s use of AI and its effects on Massachusetts customers. The decision followed a New York Times report alleging that DraftKings used AI and machine learning to target bettors considered most likely to lose.
The questionnaire does not establish that any operator has used its systems in the ways regulators ask about. Instead, it seeks company-by-company information that could help the commission understand how marketing decisions are made and whether safeguards address potential harm.
The questions connect to broader scrutiny of how sportsbooks use customer behavior to tailor promotions, including sportsbook promotions tied to predicted losses, a practice relevant to the commission’s questions about losses, deposits and wagering patterns as marketing inputs.
Responses could inform the commission’s next steps
Massachusetts is not the only state examining AI-driven sportsbook marketing. New York regulators have proposed restrictions on using AI to personalize promotions or recommend bets, according to reporting by RG.org; the proposal would take a different approach from Massachusetts’ current request for operator disclosures.
Sports Betting Dime reported that the MGC also plans to interview representatives from the operators about AI use in customer acquisition, promotions and responsible gambling. The commission’s review of written answers and interviews could inform whether it takes further action as it develops policy on AI.
For now, the immediate requirement is a written response from each of the seven operators by November 3. The MGC’s questions ask for details on the systems behind promotional decisions, including whether operators can explain why a particular customer received a particular offer.
The post AI Questions Put Massachusetts Sportsbooks Under Review appeared first on ReadWrite.
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This articles is written by : Nermeen Nabil Khear Abdelmalak
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