PHAI Submits Comments on Proposed Fantasy Sports Regulations in MA

Massachusetts attorney general, Maura Healey, has proposed regulations to protect consumers from deceptive practices of daily fantasy sports operators in Massachusetts.  These include provisions to prevent youth access, limit monthly betting, and prevent professional players from using special tools to dramatically improve their chances of winning. The Public Health Advocacy Institute previously argued to Ms. […]

Boston Globe Published Gottlieb Op-Ed on Legality of Daily Fantasy Sports in Massachusetts

The Boston Globe has published on opinion piece by PHAI’s executive director, Mark A. Gottlieb, which summarizes the organization’s legal research concluding that paid Daily Fantasy Sports games are illegal under Massachusetts law. The piece, entitled, “Fantasy Sports Gambling is Illegal Under State Law,” explains the law and several reasons why it is important to enforce it. […]

After Settlement, PHAI Continues Commitment to Ending Youth Access to MA Lottery Ticket Vending Machines

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:  Mark Gottlieb at (617) 373-2206 -Boston As part of its mission to end youth access to lottery ticket vending machines in Massachusetts, the Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) announced today that it has settled a lawsuit with Star Markets. In March, PHAI, a non-profit organization based at Northeastern University, brought suit […]

Stop & Shop Responds to PHAI’s Demands to Prevent Sales of Scratch Tickets to Kids

In 2014 and 2015, the Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) conducted testing to determine whether kids could purchase lottery tickets from the vending machines located in a number of area supermarkets.  At markets in Cambridge, Somerville, and Arlington, Massachusetts, a teenage tester was easily able to purchase lottery tickets in every attempt. Massachusetts law expressly […]

PHAI Mentioned in Boston Globe Article About Efforts to Prevent Underage Lottery Vending

In recent months, PHAI has worked with concerned parents and a national anti-predatory gambling group to address youth access to instant lottery tickets through unattended vending machines. Fears around easy access to scratch tickets by kids grew when we found that a 14-year-old was able to easily purchase tickets from lottery vending machines in supermarkets […]

PHAI Litigation the Focus of Boston Globe Editorial

Today the Boston Globe’s Editorial Board published an editorial supporting the the Public Health Advocacy Institute’s efforts to stop automated lottery ticket sales to kids. Earlier this month, PHAI filed a lawsuit against Star Markets and issued to consumer rights demand to Stop & Shop, two major regional grocery chains, on behalf of the father […]

New PHAI study in AJPH focuses on the tobacco industry’s use of personal responsibility rhetoric, how its legal defense strategies inform its public relations messaging

According to a newly published study co-authored by Lissy Friedman, Daniel Givelber, Mark Gottlieb and Richard Daynard of the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Northeastern University School of Law and Andrew Cheyne of Berkeley Media Studies Group, the tobacco industry honed and developed a legal strategy that blamed its customers for their smoking-related injuries, and […]

PHAI Begins Legal Action against Star Markets Over Illegal Lottery Ticket Sales To Minors

The Public Health Advocacy Institute (PHAI) today sent a demand letter to the Star Markets supermarket chain, charging the company with violating the Massachusetts Consumer Protection Act by illegally selling lottery tickets to minors.  The letter calls on Star Markets to remove lottery scratch ticket vending machines from its stores. PHAI sent the letter on behalf […]

PHAI’s Daynard Signs on to Report: Why Casinos Matter

PHAI’s President and University Distinguished Professor of Law at Northeastern University, Richard A. Daynard, has joined more than 30 other scholars from a variety of disciplines around the country who have signed on to a report  issued by the non-profit and non-partisan Institute for American Values. The report, “Why Casinos Matter,” provides 31 evidence-based reasons […]

May 27, 2022 – As the mass shootings continue, UnitedOnGuns’ Director, Sarah Peck, was interviewed  on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered on May 21, 2022 regarding the mass shooting in Buffalo, NY and on May 26, 2022 in the wake of the mass murders in the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas and the resources for mayors […]