Massachusetts Diverts Casino Mitigation Grants Toward Surveillance Cameras with Minimal Support for Gambling Treatment

Massachusetts communities have spent nearly $500,000 in casino grants on police surveillance cameras while directing only 5 percent of the $38.5 million awarded over three fiscal years to problem gambling prevention and treatment. Nine communities acquired automated license plate readers using these resources, according to an investigation reported by Casino.org News. The expenditures come from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission's Community Mitigation Fund, created to offset casino development effects including traffic, public service demands, and gambling-related harm. Most of the money instead supported public safety, police patrols, and infrastructure.

Surveillance Equipment Purchases Trigger Privacy and Justification Concerns

In Agawam near MGM Springfield, officials secured approval for almost $58,000 to acquire six Flock Safety cameras after revising a grant application. The revision cited parents dropping children at Six Flags New England before heading to the casino. Police Chief Eric Gillis later admitted to local councilor Christine Rickmon that officers had not documented the parents' actual destinations. Rickmon also challenged the absence of resident input before the cameras went live.

The devices capture license plates of passing vehicles and feed searchable databases available to law enforcement, including agencies in other states. Privacy advocates note that the cameras monitor ordinary drivers with no connection to casinos. Other communities making similar purchases included Chicopee, Ludlow, Plainville, Wrentham, and Chelsea. In June the Commission voted 4-1 to permit Ludlow to redirect $35,000 from a prior grant to a Flock camera service contract. Commissioner Eileen O’Brien cast the lone vote against it, citing reservations about the technology.

Where Fund Allocations Fall Short of Gambling Harm Priorities

The pattern raises questions about alignment with the fund's core purposes. The Commission added gambling harm reduction as an eligible category in 2023, but few municipalities have pursued it for that purpose. Timothy Fong, co-director of UCLA’s Gambling Studies Program, stated that while casino-related traffic and policing pressures matter, prevention and treatment deliver longer-term public health benefits. Police officials maintain that license plate readers serve as effective tools for solving crimes and locating missing persons.

Countering that view, the technology has grown increasingly controversial. More than 30 communities statewide have suspended or canceled license plate reader contracts over privacy issues. This spending skew reveals limitations in current oversight mechanisms that allow mitigation grants to prioritize immediate law enforcement assets over sustained gambling treatment efforts. Regulators will need to tighten approval standards and require documented links between proposed uses and verified casino impacts to close the gap.