Data Privacy in Massachusetts: Concerns for Sports Betting
Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Okay, now privacy is a very big part of sports betting.
00:05 And, you know, obviously there are people out there
00:07 that are betting that don't want other people
00:09 to know that they are.
00:11 And some of these issues have come up in Massachusetts.
00:14 So what is the very latest here as far as making sure
00:16 that people still feel comfortable
00:18 with some of these restrictions on data privacy?
00:21 - Yeah, earlier this summer,
00:24 Massachusetts essentially proposed
00:26 what would be the strictest restrictions on data privacy,
00:30 collecting and sharing through sports betting apps
00:33 and in-person with in-person sports books at casinos.
00:37 It would basically, the rules that they proposed
00:39 would make it where bettors have to opt in
00:42 to have their third party information
00:45 sort of farmed and shared by a sports book,
00:48 which would create a big problem for the sports books.
00:51 That's what they're saying.
00:52 That's what they're telling Massachusetts
00:54 and asking them to sort of change these rules,
00:56 change it from an opt in to an opt out
00:59 so more people would join in.
01:01 But they basically say, you know,
01:03 that's gonna really make it hard to market
01:06 and tailor specific advertisements to folks.
01:08 There's a lot of things that go into collecting the data,
01:12 you know, whether it's sending people a promo,
01:15 if someone only bets on college football,
01:17 them getting specific promos there,
01:20 you know, whether it's responsible gaming as well,
01:24 collecting the data of people that bet,
01:26 not necessarily publishing it or doing anything with it
01:29 that would expose someone as a better,
01:31 but just having it and tracking it and using it
01:33 is very, very important for sports books.
01:36 So these rules were proposed earlier this summer.
01:38 They were supposed to take effect actually this month,
01:41 but due to kind of the pushback and the concerns
01:44 from so many different sports books,
01:46 they agreed to suspend them for about 60 days.
01:48 So the rules are scheduled to go live
01:51 and take effect in November,
01:53 but sports books are asking for much more time.
01:56 You know, someone at that MGM saying that
01:58 it could take up to two years to implement this policy.
02:01 So it would be a huge change for sports books.
02:05 And quite frankly,
02:06 if Massachusetts passes something like this,
02:08 it's a big state, you could see other states,
02:10 you know, starting to take a look at the same thing as well.
02:12 So it's important that sports books
02:14 really get ahead of this and express their concerns.
02:17 (upbeat music)
02:20 [MUSIC]