Anti-gambling group urges Massachusetts treasurer to change Lottery games 

Massachusetts Treasurer Deborah Goldberg is facing calls from a national anti-gambling organization to act quickly over online Lottery games that the group says could attract young people.

Stop Predatory Gambling raised its concerns in an August 17 letter to Goldberg, whose office oversees the Massachusetts Lottery. Its complaint centers on three online titles: “The Claw,” “The Lamp” and “Prize Chickens.”

The group says their colorful themes borrow heavily from entertainment familiar to children. “The Claw” recreates an arcade claw machine, while “The Lamp” uses genie imagery the organization compared with Disney’s Aladdin. “Prize Chickens” features cartoon animals against a bright farm setting.

Screenshots sent with the letter show those designs alongside demo balances and gambling-style reels.

Massachusetts faces scrutiny over gambling’s reach to young people amid lottery claims

The organization is also challenging the Lottery’s “free to play” feature, arguing that letting visitors experiment without risking money could encourage them to keep playing and eventually gamble for cash.

According to the group, visitors could receive $50 in “play money” without registering or verifying their age. Stop Predatory Gambling said its team accessed the games on August 17 without seeing an age-verification pop-up. It wants demo games placed behind age and location checks immediately.

The group contrasted that setup with Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell’s approach toward Meta, arguing that a state-run gambling operation should face similarly strong scrutiny when young people could be exposed.

Massachusetts regulators have separately examined alleged marketing to underage or otherwise restricted audiences in sports betting. In February, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission advanced a BetMGM case to a formal adjudicatory hearing after investigators said promotional emails connected with the MLB Ballpark app reached prohibited or unverified recipients.

“This alleged non-compliance incident involves category 3 sports wagering licensee BetMGM,” Mercer said. “These prohibit marketing to certain populations.”

The campaign covered eight Boston Red Sox games between April 10, 2024, and July 25, 2025. “In that time period, a total of 96,167 emails were sent,” Mercer said.

BetMGM identified 383 recipients who were under 21 as of September 4, 2025, while 19 were on a voluntary self-exclusion list and 25 were in a company cool-off period. Birth dates could not be verified for another 37,632 recipients.

“They reported that the reason for the incident involved an individual employee failing to abide by BetMGM’s internal protocols regarding promotions,” Mercer said.

Commissioner Eileen O’Brien said the scale was “really disturbing.” Commissioner Nakisha Skinner called the situation “particularly egregious.” Commissioner Bradford R. Hill said, “Our goal is zero folks under 21 accessing a sports book in Massachusetts,” Hill said. “And we take this very seriously. And if something like this pops up, we’re going to take action.”

Stop Predatory Gambling wants Goldberg to require stronger safeguards on the Lottery platform. Copies of its letter also went to Gov. Maura Healey, Campbell, Senate President Karen Spilka and House Speaker Ron Mariano.

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