Massachusetts Gaming Regulators Order Audit of Casino Marketing Targeting Asian Communities

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission has requested proposals for an independent audit examining how the state’s casinos market to Asian communities, following investigative reporting that found casino operators run targeted shuttle bus routes, billboard campaigns and loan offers concentrated in neighborhoods with high Asian populations. The audit request was posted July 1, with a researcher to be selected before the study begins.

The push follows a Boston Globe investigation that documented casino marketing tactics in Boston’s Chinatown, including large billboards advertising performances by Hong Kong and Taiwanese pop stars at local casinos, frequent shuttle buses stopping near Chinatown Gate, and regular postcard mailings to frequent customers. The Globe’s analysis of shuttle routes against Census tract data found that Encore and Bally’s shuttles disproportionately stop in neighborhoods where more than 40% of the population is of Asian descent.

Debt and Disproportionate Impact

The Globe’s reporting also found that casinos have offered loans exceeding six figures to some Asian patrons, then pursued aggressive collection tactics when the debts went unpaid. More than 80% of individuals sued by Encore Boston Harbor for unpaid gambling debts since its 2019 opening are of Asian descent, according to the newspaper’s findings.

Gaming Commission spokesman Thomas Mills said the agency is “committed to advancing knowledge through its annual research agenda,” adding that the goal of the new audit is to produce “an independent examination of how operators advertise and what role the Commission may have to regulate these practices.” Advocates who have pushed for the audit hope the resulting data will shape future policy.

Limits on What Regulators Can Do

The commission’s authority has notable limits: it has no jurisdiction over out-of-state operators like Bally’s, Mohegan or Foxwoods that also market to Boston-area Asian communities, and it does not oversee the illegal gambling dens the Globe found operating in Chinatown and Quincy. An Encore spokesperson previously defended the company’s shuttle program as being “deployed based upon demonstrated ridership demand,” noting each shuttle posts responsible gambling information. It remains unclear how much the audit will cost or how long it will take before the commission receives a peer-reviewed report.