Massachusetts Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling Prevention

Challenge

Expanded opportunities for legal gambling in Massachusetts, including the availability of sports betting, has fueled concerns about problem gambling and its related negative health and mental health impacts. There is an ongoing need for community-level programs that both prevent the potential harms of problem gambling and address its root causes.

EDC is helping communities respond through its leadership of the Massachusetts Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling Prevention (MCOE PGP). Funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Office of Problem Gambling Services (OPGS), MCOE PGP provides capacity building, training, and education to OPGS grantees to help them prevent problem gambling and related health issues, such as substance misuse, suicide, and violence. EDC’s MCOE PGP team uses a social-ecological model to authentically engage educators, public health officials, and concerned citizens as they address problem gambling behaviors in their community.

Key Activities

The Center’s activities include:

• Working with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to develop innovative strategies to prevent problem gambling
• Providing individualized technical assistance to 16 community-based organizations funded to implement problem gambling prevention projects
• Facilitating three communities of practice per month focused on youth and families and high-risk populations
• Providing virtual and in-person trainings to share research, best practices, and education about problem gambling prevention and related behavioral health issues
• Managing a website with information about problem gambling prevention and resources that educate communities about related health issues

Our Impact

The Center achieved the following impacts in FY2025:

• Provided 138 training and technical assistance services to six grantee programs, serving 426 individuals
• Led three sessions at the OPGS Annual Problem Gambling Prevention Conference in June 2025, reaching 140 researchers and practitioners
• Hosted an in-person roundtable event titled 3 R’s: Respect, Resistance, Resilience, reaching the recipients of grantees and their partners, as well as leaders in problem gambling prevention from across the state
• Reached 157 people through MCOE Health Equity Academy interactive trainings