Massachusetts Sportsbook AI Review Raises Questions for Sports Partnerships
Massachusetts is reviewing sportsbook AI practices. For teams and leagues, the scrutiny highlights fan-data use, partner safeguards and trust.
A review of licensed operators’ AI practices puts promotional targeting and customer safeguards on the agenda for sports organizations with betting partners.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is examining how licensed sportsbooks use artificial intelligence and machine learning, bringing fresh scrutiny to the systems behind personalized betting promotions.
According to September 24 reporting by Covers and CDC Gaming, commission chair Jordan Maynard asked Executive Director Dean Serpa and staff to engage with DraftKings and learn how all licensed sports betting operators in the state are using the technologies.
The review follows a New York Times investigation that alleged DraftKings used machine learning to identify customers likely to respond to promotions and subsequently lose money. That is an allegation reported by the newspaper, not a regulatory finding. Covers reported that the commission had not determined DraftKings committed wrongdoing. The review could inform later policy decisions; it does not itself establish a new restriction on AI.
“Any further action or policy-making can then be determined by the Commission when or if appropriate.” — Jordan Maynard, Chair, Massachusetts Gaming Commission
Massachusetts had already been studying AI in gaming before this latest reporting. A commission-published research summary from November 2025 describes personalization as offering possible customer-experience benefits while also increasing the potential for harm to vulnerable populations. It identifies privacy, consent and data-sharing barriers in the use of information to assess player risk.
For teams and leagues, the immediate relevance is the relationship between fan engagement and a partner’s downstream use of data. A sponsorship agreement can include much more than signage. Where a relationship involves referrals, co-branded campaigns or audience information, the sports organization should understand what happens after a fan engages.
That does not mean the commission’s review has found misconduct by teams or leagues. Nor does it automatically create new obligations for every sportsbook partner. It does make the purpose of AI personalization a more important business question: what outcome is the system designed to increase, and what safeguards constrain it?
A partner review can begin with a map of the information exchanged and its permitted uses. Executives should ask whether data from a team’s channels can contribute to promotional targeting, whether additional uses require permission and how restrictions are enforced across vendors. Commercial, privacy and legal teams need a shared understanding of those answers.
The next issue is measurement. Clicks, conversion and promotional response can show commercial performance without showing whether a campaign treats customers responsibly. A more complete review would ask how customer protections interact with targeting systems, who can stop an inappropriate campaign and what evidence is retained when a concern arises.
These are governance questions rather than conclusions about any particular operator. Specific contractual or regulatory requirements should be assessed with qualified counsel. The relevant lesson for sports executives is to make the intended use and limits of partner technology explicit before a campaign launches.
There is a broader AI lesson here, too. A model can optimize effectively for a commercial objective while creating outcomes an organization would not want to defend publicly. Choosing the objective, setting boundaries and reviewing the results remain management responsibilities.
Massachusetts’ review is a signal to revisit those responsibilities in sportsbook relationships. Sports properties do not need to wait for a new rule to ask how their brand, audience and data are used. Clear answers are part of evaluating a partnership’s long-term value and protecting fan trust.
Grant Mitchell
Chris Sieroty — Managing Editor, CDC Gaming
https://massgaming.com/research/ai-and-player-risk-identification-and-response-research-report/
