Office of Problem Gambling Services: Don’t miss out

Starting a conversation about the real impacts of gambling in the Asian American community.

Public Health

Public Sector

A man and a boy eat at a dinner table; an illustrated outline of a woman sits between them, suggesting her absence. A digital sign displays a warning in Korean and English about missing life opportunities, with an overhead photo of people playing cards on the floor and a QR code linking to mass.gov/DontMissOut.

The gap

Asian Americans were viewing gambling as good clean fun. No one was talking about the risks.

The research

We started a conversation about the real impacts of gambling in the community. We worked with community-based organizations through stakeholder interviews and focus groups in Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese languages.

Three children walk on a sidewalk with their backs to the camera; a white outline drawing of a person appears beside them, reaching out to one child’s shoulder.
Grid of multilingual posters about problem gambling, featuring text warnings, child and adult outlines, and the “Let’s Set Real” campaign logo in multiple languages.

The strategy

We positioned gambling as a negative force in people’s lives.

The creative

Our campaign, “Don’t miss out,” leveraged Asian-American values by focusing on people’s role in their families, and communities. We showed them what they miss when they lose themselves to gambling. 

The results

36 million impressions
180 QR code scans
20,500 visits to the campaign landing page

Project funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Office of Problem Gambling Services