SPRINGFIELD — With September being Responsible Gaming Education Month, two City Council subcommittees met on Sept. 10 to study ways in which gambling addiction impacts elderly.
The meeting, spearheaded by the council’s Elder Affairs and Health and Human Services committees, spawned from an AARP report At Large City Councilor Brian Santaniello found that said 68% of seniors across the country do some form of gambling.
“You’ve got to look for telltale signs, because somebody might have cognitive impairment, or they may be going through trauma and stress, depression [and] loneliness,” said Santaniello, the chair of the Health and Human Services committee. “So that’s what we want to talk about today.”
The two committees met with representatives from MGM Springfield, Springfield Elder Affairs and the Massachusetts Council on Gaming and Health to learn about the preventative and educational measures they are taking to curtail compulsive gambling amongst seniors.
Odessa Dwarika, the chief programs officer for the Massachusetts Council on Gaming and Health, said that the impact and vulnerability associated with problem gambling is of greatest concern when it comes to the elderly population.
“Somebody might be in a situation where they’re older, they’re on a fixed income, they can’t get that second job to cover their bills, and then [there’s] also that level of isolation,” Dwarika said. “So, I do believe it’s a community that, regardless of whether they have higher rates or higher prevalence of gambling, the impact can be so devastating in just a different kind of way.”
According to Dwarika, problem gambling can take on many forms amongst the elderly. For example, financial abuse is a huge issue: the idea that a family member with a gambling problem can access the money of their senior relative.
Dwarika said there is also certain Parkinson’s medication that can increase seniors’ impulsivity to participate in certain activities, like gambling. She shared that oftentimes, family members must decide if the medication for their elderly relative is even worth that side effect.
“[The medication] increases impulsivity, and so you see increases very often in behaviors around sexual activities, sometimes shoplifting and very often, gambling,” Dwarika said.
Compulsive gambling among elders has been exacerbated by the fact that access to gambling is more prevalent than ever before. Springfield’s Health and Human Services Commissioner Helen Caulton-Harris said that aside from MGM, the city also has 202 retail lottery places as of 2023, and seven online sports books that can be accessed.
“It’s not just MGM,” Caulton-Harris said. “I want to put a pin there, because most of these convenience stores or lottery places are in the neighborhood, and that’s where many of our residents are going to [gamble].”
Since MGM opened in 2018, the city and the casino have used different avenues to address problem gambling. Caulton-Harris said Springfield has a problem gambling coordinator that works with the community on prevention and intervention, and the city has also used grant money from the Gaming and Health Commission to run community conversations about compulsive gambling.
Meanwhile, MGM Director of Compliance Daniel Miller said the casino is spending this month educating the public about responsible gambling by having its GameSense advisors teach people about the pitfalls and myths of gaming.
He added that Massachusetts casinos also have a program at all their slots called “Play My Way,” which allows players who insert their rewards cards to budget daily, weekly and monthly. Miller shared that the tool would warn players when they are reaching the budget they have allotted themselves.
Players can use this tool as a way to limit their gambling, Miller said.
“MGM Springfield and Massachusetts Council for Gaming and Health [are working] on trying to make people A, aware of the resources that are available to them, but B, more than anything, how to be an informed gambler,” Miller said. “We don’t want it to be anything more than, you are here for entertainment, you enjoy, you can spend what you can afford to spend and then go home happy.”
Councilors expressed appreciation for MGM’s efforts in curbing problem gambling and for their contributions to bringing economic vitality to the city. But they also wanted to bring the issue of problem gambling to light.
“I think it’s a great topic, and I think we’re so timely doing it in September,” said City Councilor Kateri Walsh.
The various representatives at the meeting talked about how to pinpoint problem gambling or financial abuse, and brainstormed ways in which they can bring more awareness to the issue.
Roy Goodman, director of Elder Affairs for the city, noted that his department can identify problem gambling amongst the city’s elders through normal conversations and other clues, like a senior’s inability to pay bills.
He said he would love to see someone from the city or MGM come to the senior centers and educate elderly about gambling, especially since, according to Caulton-Harris, gambling mainly impacts those in a lower socioeconomic status.
Caulton-Harris said her department will work on some type of program to meet with seniors.
“We’re not going to promote gambling at Elder Affairs,” Goodman said. “I think it would be good for us to educate our seniors.”
In the meantime, Goodman said Elder Affairs is promoting healthier alternatives for its seniors. Caulton-Harris, meanwhile, shared that people experiencing compulsive gambling issues can contact Office of Problem Gambling Coordinator Theresa Glenn at tglenn@springfieldcityhall.com or by calling 413-750-2065.
People may also contact the Massachusetts Substance Use Information and Education Helpline: 1-800-327-5050.
