When Amy Gabrila arrives at the MGM casino in Springfield, Massachusetts, she makes the rounds on the gaming floor. She walks up and down rows of clanging slot machines as people pull levers and press buttons, hoping to win. If a player looks up, Gabrila asks how they are doing.
They may tell me, Oh no, I spent more than I meant to. And I say, Oh, yeah? When you come in, do you normally try to set a budget? And well go from there, she says.
Gabrila, 47, who has short spiky hair and a no-nonsense demeanor, works for the state-funded GameSense program, now operating at all three casinos in Massachusetts and meant to promote responsible gambling. She used to be part of the casino industry; as a table dealer, she says, my job was to keep bu…
Read the full article at: https://undark.org/2023/11/21/problem-gambling-massachusetts/