But there are some groups that we think will be vulnerable because of their lack of experience with gambling or because they're being targeted very specifically by the sports betting operators in an effort to grow the market: adolescents, young adults, women, immigrants, college athletes and people who are already in recovery from a gambling problem.' 'We think the impacts are going to be moderate. On expectations about the effects of the new law: Volberg spoke with WBUR’s Weekend Edition. Rachel Volberg is a research professor at the UMASS Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences, and she is the Principal Investigator on the Massachusetts Gaming Commission’s Social and Economic Impacts of Gambling in Massachusetts (SEIGMA) study. Legal mobile sports gambling is set to start in the state in the following weeks. As of Tuesday January 31 at 10 a.m., sports betting in casinos will be legal in the state. (Charles Krupa/AP)Ī new era in gambling gets underway in Massachusetts this week. Facebook Email A left field scoreboard is covered under a DraftKings promotional as Boston Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers (11) warms up before a baseball game at Fenway Park, Wednesday, Sept.