BOSTON (SHNS) - The Gaming Commission will be seeking player data from sports betting operators and could use it to formulate new industry rules as it continues to wade through the sticky issue of wager limitations, which operators say is an important part of their risk mitigation efforts but players say punishes them for winning. State gambling regulators have been interested for months in digging into the controversial topic of how and why sportsbooks restrict how much or how often someone can bet. Operators explained the practice to commissioners in September and stressed that they don't limit a bettor based on outcomes like wins, but rather based on patron activities and betting behavior patterns. They said approximately 1 percent of bettors are prevented from betting to what would otherwise be the maximum allowed wager amount. Bettors who said their wagering was limited by sports betting companies after cashing regular wins initially prodded the commission to consider the subject in the spring, and the commission has taken a keen interest in the consumer issue as it faces survey data showing that legal sports betting has only expanded the universe of bettors rather than compelling people to jump from the illicit market to the regulated one. Commissioners agreed Thursday to move ahead with a "detailed, but narrow" request to sports betting companies, seeking data related to players whose activity has been limited. "We would draft that data request in such a way that a review and analysis of the data would presumably show us the volume of patrons being limited, and whether and to what extent a correlation exists between one, a patron whose limits have been decreased and who exhibits winning behavior, and two, a patron whose limits have been increased and who exhibits losing behavior," Carrie Torrisi, chief of the commission's Sports Wagering Division, said. "We would anticipate getting a data request out in the coming weeks, and following receipt of submissions, we would review that data, determine if additional data requests or clarifications are necessary and identify possible action for the commission." One possible action for the commission to take would be to adopt regulations meant to address wager limitations, Torrisi said. "Such regulations might include things like requiring notifications to patrons who have been limited, implementing reporting or audit requirements regarding patron limits, or requiring clear and defined protocols and parameters around patron limits," she told commissioners Thursday. The commission plans to keep the data and operators' responses confidential, by relying on an exemption in the public records law that applies to "trade secrets or commercial or financial information voluntarily provided to an agency for use in developing governmental policy and upon," according to a memo Torrisi drafted for the commission. Commissioners were on board with Torrisi's plan Thursday and said they would be eager to see the responses. "We're going to be curious here, and I look forward to what we learn," Chair Jordan Maynard said during Thursday's meeting. Massachusetts is believed to be the first and so far only state in the country to publicly tackle the issue of wager limits and its work on the matter attracted the attention of ESPN, the New York Times and other national media outlets earlier this year. Local News Headlines Senator Adam Gomez hosts annual Hampden County turkey drive Local food pantries looking for donations for those in need Foster grandparent volunteers honored for dedication to children Gandara Center opens new location in Chicopee WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com.