IGWB Goes Digital [trade publication]

International Gaming & Wagering Business (IGWB) is one of the most well-known gaming trade publications. The entire content of this monthly magazine is now available online in its original format... take a peek at the February 2006 issue. A most useful resource.

New York State Racinos [reports]

The State of New York appears to be going ahead with VLTs in horse racing facilities (racinos). The Maryland Tax Education Foundation report "New York State’s $2 Billion Trifecta: NYRA, VLTs & OTB Competitive Auctioning of Racing Assets Could Narrow NYS Budget Gap" (2006, February) is proposing auctioning off the VLT franchises to raise the maximum amount of revenue for the State.

Also of interest to this item are a couple of reports from the Friends of New York Racing:
1) Preliminary Report of Friends of New York Racing, Inc.: Initial Findings and Recommendations (2005, June), and;
2) The Way Forward: Report and Recommendations of Friends of New York Racing, Inc. (2005, December)

Gaming Law Review, February 2006 [journal issue]

Yet another issue of Gaming Law Review has been published. The table of contents for the February 2006 issue (Volume 10, Number 1) shows that the following original papers are included:

• Proposed Johnson Act Amendments Seek to "Clarify" Distinction Between Class II and Class III Gaming by Heidi McNeil Staudenmaier
• The Vital Role of Patent Law in the Gaming Industry by Steve S. Chang
• Tribal Gaming in California: How to Negotiate the Regulatory Process by John Maloney
• Pennsylvania's Progress in Its First Year of Gaming by Mary D. Colins
• If You Can't Beat 'Em, Will They Let You Join? What American States Can Offer to Attract Internet Gambling Operators by Martin D. Owens Jr.
• What's Next for the Netherlands? Court Decision Might Nix Dutch Monopoly on Casino Gambling by Justin Franssen

Keis Ohtsuka [3 articles]

Dr. Keis Ohtsuka is Senior Lecturer at the School of Psychology, Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia. Two scholarly conference presentations and a journal article co-authored by Ohtsuka have been made available in the Victoria University EPrint Repository. They are:

1) Gambling among older Greek Australians: Influence of illusion of control beliefs and risk-taking (2001);
2) Predicting problem gambling among poker machine players from coping styles and motivational factors (2001), and;
3) The structure of young people's leisure and their gambling behaviour (2000)

Gaming Law Review, December [journal issue]

Gaming Law Review, Volume 9, Number 6, December 2005 is now available to subscribers - See Table of Contents. The issue includes the following original papers:

• The Global E-Gaming Industry: Why London, Why Now? by Joseph Kelly, Michael Tew, Laura Dubin
• New York's Expanded Gambling Statute Survives Judicial Scrutiny: A Closer Look at Dalton v. Pataki by Bennett Liebman
• Pachinko Players in Japan: Subculture, Cult, or Ordinary Citizens at Leisure? by William N. Thompson, Ichiro Tanioka, Kotaro Fujimoto
• Prohibiting Cross-Border Wagers by I. Nelson Rose

Proposed Montréal Casino Advisory [report]

The Direction de santé publique de Montréal has made available the publication "La construction d'un casino au bassin Peel - Avis de santé publique" (2006, February). Also on the site is a one-page English summary "Public Health advisory on changes in gambling in Montréal. Construction of a casino at the Peel bassin".

Gauteng, South Africa Gambling [report]

The Gauteng Gambling Board of South Africa recently released their commissioned study entitled "Gambling behaviour in Gauteng" (2004, June). The study looked at the socioeconomic impacts of gambling with respect to community attitudes, problem gambling, size of the gambling sector, etc.

Alberta's Responsible Gambling Information Centres [news release]

The news item "Alberta opens info centres in casinos to help gamblers" (2006, February 15) has been posted on the Alberta government web site. It provides details on a pilot program that will see Responsible Gambling Information Centres in two provincial casinos. In addition, there are backgrounders on problem gambling services available in Alberta as well as some information on responsible gambling policies.

Costs & Benefits Theory [Article & Book Chapter]

A couple interesting items authored by "independent scholar" Brian Easton New Zealand that I came across recently would certainly be of interest to those planning on attending the upcoming Institute conference on the social & economic costs and benefits of gambling. They are: The analysis of costs and benefits of gambling (2003), and; Gambling in New Zealand: An economic overview (2002).

Gambling entry in MedlinePlus

There is a page on the MedlinePlus web site that provides information about gambling. Included are links under the following categories: overviews, diagnosis/symptoms, treatment, health check tools, related issues, clinical trials, research, directories, and organizations.

MedlinePlus is a service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and is designed to direct people to information to help answer their health questions.

Problem Gambling & Treatment in Nevada [summary report]

The report "Problem Gambling and Treatment in Nevada" by Dr. Bo J. Bernhard, Director of Gambling Research, UNLV International Gaming Institute is available on the web site of the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services. It provides an excellent description of problem gambling treatment and research initiatives in the State of Nevada.

Washington State Public Opinion [survey report]

The report "Public Opinion Survey: Washington State Gambling Commission" (2006, January) contains details on gambling obtained from phone interviews with 500 residents. Interestingly, there's a page devoted to betting on "Fantasy Sports" (p.28)... 2 % of people report having played them for money.

Washington State Prevalence [survey report]

For those of you interested in survey of gambling prevalence, you might want to take a look at Chapter 6. "Prevalence of Gambling in Washington State" from the Washington State Needs Assessment Household Survey (2005, September).

I've also recently updated the web pages on the Alberta Gaming Research Institute's page that relate to prevalence studies in Canada and the U.S.

Alcohol / Illicit Drugs / Gambling in Massachusetts [survey report]

The report "Alcohol Use, Illicit Drug Use, and Gambling in Massachusetts, 2002" (2005, July)provides a summary of data collected on: (1) knowledge and attitudes about alcohol use and illicit drug use; (2) alcohol use; (3) illicit drug use; (4) gambling, and (5) treatment for alcohol and illicit drug use in Massachusetts. The data were collected as a part of the Massachusetts Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).

Texas Lottery Players [online report]

Demographic Study of Texas Lottery Players (2005, December) is the name of a report commissioned by the Texas Lottery Commission and undertaken by the School of Urban and Public Affairs, University of Texas at Arlington.

Gambling in Thailand [online resource]

In honour of a friend riding a motorcycle around Thailand... a couple items of interest that relate to gambling in that country:

1) "The Legalization of Gambling in Thailand: A Revisited Discourse in Light of Recent Developments" (2004) is a paper authored by a graduate student at Lund University in Sweden.

2) "Gambling with Thailand" (1999) is a translated? book chapter by an academic noted for her books about Thailand.

Compilation of Canadian Gaming Information [Statistics]

The Canadian Partnership for Responsible Gambling has updated its Canadian Gambling Digest (2006, February). One of the few sources of Canadian statistical information on gambling... best of all is that it's been provided for free.

"Ms. Nadine Kauffman and Dr.Phil Mun, researchers from the Responsible Gambling Council, assembled the information for this report. The information was obtained from annual reports and other government documents, gambling and problem gambling prevalence studies,web pages,and extensive direct one to one requests from various organizations and agencies."

New Issue of Research Reveals -- [newsletter]

The December 2005 / January 2006 issue of the Alberta Gaming Research Institute newsletter 'Research Reveals...' has now been posted online. It provides a preview of a conference on the socio-economic costs and benefits of gambling that is to take place in Banff, Alberta, Canada in April 2006.

American Journal of Psychiatry, Feb 2006 [journal articles]

The February 2006 issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry includes the freely accessibly article "Natural Recovery and Treatment-Seeking in Pathological Gambling: Results of Two U.S. National Surveys" by Wendy S. Slutske.

In the same issue are two other gambling-related items:

"Pathological Gambling: Focusing on the Addiction, Not the Activity" [Editorial] by Carol A. Tamminga, M.D., and Eric J. Nestler, and;

"Multicenter Investigation of the Opioid Antagonist Nalmefene in the Treatment of Pathological Gambling" [Research Article] by Jon E. Grant, Marc N. Potenza, Eric Hollander, Renee Cunningham-Williams, Tommi Nurminen, Gerard Smits, and Antero Kallio.

State Legislature Magazine [Online Articles]

State Legislature Magazine ran a three-part series of concise articles related to gambling in the United States from a government perspective. Included were: Gambling on gaming (2005, January), Counting on gambling (2005, February), and Tribes bet on gaming (2005, March).