Gaming Research Weblog

Motivational Interviewing & Problem Gambling [Training Workshop]

2007-05-03T09:58:00.000-07:00

If you're interested in an intensive evidence-based and hands-on training workshop on "Motivational Interviewing & Problem Gambling" aimed at healthcare and social service professionals, be sure to sign-up and attend the September 7, 2007 event which will take place at the University of Toronto (St. George Campus) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

It is being organized by Professional Advanced Services (PAS).

International Gambling Studies [new issue]

2007-03-09T07:23:00.000-08:00

Volume 7, Issue 1 (2007) of the journal International Gambling Studies contains the following original articles:

Between Law and Custom - Examining the Interaction between Legislative Change and the Evolution of Macao's Casino Industry
The Psychology of Risk-taking in Gambling among Chinese Visitors to Macau
The Security of Gambling and Gambling with Security: Hacking, Law Enforcement and Public Policy
Self-exclusion: A Proposed Gateway to Treatment Model
Multiple Co-occurring Behaviours among Gamblers in Treatment: Implications and Assessment
Validation of the Chinese Version of the Gambling Urges Scale (GUS-C)
The Influence of Music on Estimates of At-risk Gambling Intentions: An Analysis by Casino Design
Prospective Problem Gambling Research: Contribution and Potential

Gambling, Culture, Community and Intervention [free one-day conference]

2007-03-07T09:30:00.000-08:00

For those in the Toronto area in late March... you might want to attend what looks to be an interesting (and free!) one-day conference on "Gambling, Culture, Community and Intervention" that is being put on by COSTI Immigrant Services in partnership with the Ontario Resource Group on Gambling, Ethnicity and Culture.

Gambling in Estonia [conference]

2007-03-01T11:02:00.000-08:00

The Institute for Problem Gambling and Treatment in Estonia is hosting a conference pertaining to the "Social Responsibility of Gambling Industry Enterprises." I wasn't even aware of the Institute let alone the conference!

North Carolina Gambling Prevalence [report]

2007-02-27T11:44:00.000-08:00

The report "Effects of the North Carolina State Lottery on the Incidence of Gambling Addiction" (2007, February) was produced by the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services [North Carolina].

Interestingly, this report aims to accomplish what many researchers have been calling for withe resepect to the introduction of legalized gambling... establish a baseline measure of how many people have gambling-related problems both before gambling is introduced to a jurisdiction.

Specifically, "Legislation (House Bill 1023) that established the North Carolina State Lottery included a provision that required the Department of Health and Human Services to study its impact on the incidence of gambling addiction in the state. This report presents findings on gambling behaviors among adult North Carolinians prior to the sale of the first lottery ticket on March 30, 2006 and provides the reference against which the incidence of gambling will be measured in the future."

Casinos and Regeneration [policy paper]

2007-02-26T14:28:00.000-08:00

The Institute for Public Policy Research in the U.K.) has produced the short policy paper "Casinos and Regeneration: The story so far" (2007, February).

This Centre for Cities briefing note deconstructs the decision, before critically assessing the relationship between casinos and regeneration more generally. It focuses on the regeneration issues around supercasino development. It concludes with some lessons for Manchester.

Gaming Law Review, January 2007 [journal issue]

2007-02-23T07:49:00.000-08:00

Volume 11, No. 1 of the journal Gaming Law Review (2007, January) is now available to subscribers. Original articles include:

Extraditing Peter Dicks
The Post-Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act Online-Gaming Surge?
Virtual Worlds, Real Damages: The Odd Case of American Hero, the Greatest Horse that May Have Lived
The Duty to Preserve Casino Surveillance Video Evidence: Ensuring Compliance with Mississippi Gaming Regulation § 10(e)
State Lotteries, Commercial Casinos, and Public Finance: An Uneasy Relationship Revisited

Research and Measurement Issues [Forthcoming book]

2007-02-21T11:16:00.000-08:00

The book Research and Measurement Issues in Gambling Studies is set to be available from Elsevier in May, 2007. It has been co-edited by the Alberta Gaming Research Institute's three research coordinators -- Dr. Garry Smith (U. of Alberta), Dr. David Hodgins (U. of Calgary), and Dr. Rob Williams (U. of Lethbridge).

This extensive book includes contributions from leading international experts on methodologies and measurement tools relevant to gambling studies.

le jeu pathologique [reports]

2007-02-21T10:52:00.000-08:00

Two new youth gambling-related reports are available from The Institut national de santé publique du Québec (INSPQ). They are:

Tired Gamblers [online article]

2007-02-16T11:10:00.000-08:00

An organization called the Canada Safety Council has an article on their web site entitled "Gambling, Fatigue and Drowsy Driving" contributed by Nina Littman-Sharp at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

Littman-Sharp provides some highlights of findings from a study carried out on 66 clients of the Problem Gambling Service of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. For those of you driving near casinos late at night (or perhaps leaving from one yourself), be careful behind the wheel of a vehicle!

Packaging Gambling with Sex [newsletter article]

2007-02-15T09:17:00.000-08:00

The newsletter article "Packaging gambling with sex a risky combination for teens" is featured in the Winter, 2006 issue of Youth Gambling International from McGill University's International Centre for Youth Gambling Problema & High-Risk Behaviors.

For anyone wondering, the article discusses provocative advertising by various online gambling sites that use scantily-clad models.

Tunica, Mississippi Revitalization [newsletter article]

2007-02-13T09:17:00.000-08:00

The newsletter article "Tunica Lays Big Bet on the Casino Industry" appears in the January, 2007 issue of Regional Economist - a publication of The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

Over the past decade or so, Tunica, Mississippi has transformed from a desperately poor region with poor prospects for economic growth to one that is thriving. Much of the credit for this change is said to have been as a result of the introduction of casino gambling. Based on what economists like Dr. Bill Eadington have written, it would seem that Tunica meets the criteria for places that would be likely to benefit from casino development (i.e., few existing industries, choice of "destination-style" facilities to attract tourists, and residents who are generally willing to accept both the positive and negative effects of casino gambling).

Local Government Planning re Gaming [report]

2007-02-12T13:26:00.000-08:00

The Community Advocacy on Gambling (CAOG) group in Australia has produced the report "Gaming, Tobacco and Local Government in Victoria: A State of Readiness?" (2007, January) which seeks to provide an analysis of Local Government planner knowledge of relevant gaming legislation and of processes used by planners.

It strikes me that the input of local planners themselves is something that might often be overlooked when it comes to actually implementing government venue regulations / restrictions.

Collection of Recent Gaming-Related Materials [library titles]

2007-02-09T15:41:00.000-08:00

For anyone interested in what gambling-related materials were processed for inclusion in the U. of Lethbridge Library's collection for the period September - December 2006, take a look at the web page "U of Lethbridge New Gaming Titles".

The Florida Gambling Scene [2 reports]

2007-02-08T10:34:00.000-08:00

Two recent reports from theFlorida Council on Compulsive Gambling include:

1) Gambling on Credit: Exploring the Link Between Compulsive Gambling and Access to Credit (2006) -- This item summarizes the findings and recommendations of a national Think Tank convened in May 2006 by the council.

2) Gambling among Florida Middle and High School Students (2006, June) - The analysis presented in this report is based upon a secondary analysis of data collected during the school year 2005, in a survey sponsored by the Florida Department of Children & Families (DCF).

Canadian Gaming Business, Dec. 2006 / Jan. 2007 [new online issue]

2007-02-08T10:17:00.000-08:00

The December 2006 / January 2007 issue of Canadian Gaming Business trade publication has been made freely available online.

Included are interesting articles on the next generation of electronic table games, a profile on several publicly-traded Canadian gaming stocks, and highlights of activities provided by provincial gaming authorities.

Youth Gambling in Alberta [survey results]

2007-02-07T11:26:00.000-08:00

The Alberta Alcohol and Drug Abuse Commission (AADAC) has released results from the second cycle of The Alberta Youth Experience Survey (TAYES) to measure alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use and gambling activity among Alberta students in grades 7 through 12.

Highlights of gambling-related findings are available in the short report entitled "Youth Gambling in Alberta" (2007, January).

For additional information about the survey, take a look at the most recent issue (Winter 2006 / 2007) of AAADAC's Developments newsletter.

Undergound Slots [policy report]

2007-02-06T12:55:00.000-08:00

The Abell Foundation of Maryland recently published the report "Underground Video Gambling: Still in Violation of the Law, and Still Thriving" (2007, January) which follows up on their original publication entitled "Underground Video Gambling Industry Costing Maryland More Than $15 Million Annually In Uncollected Taxes" (2006, January).

The new report chronicals what has taken place as a result of the release of the original report. It appears that the authorities are cracking down somewhat on these so-called "vending machines" but real change might only happen if slot machine gambling is legalized in Maryland. The reason given is because, "...the state would be more inclined to pressure local jurisdictions to eliminate the illegal machines to avoid competition with legal slots."

Aboriginal Conference Presenter Submissions [Conference Opportunity]

2007-02-05T09:21:00.000-08:00

The Addictions Foundation of Manitoba invites the submission of presentations / papers (deadline Feb. 15th, 2007) for the Third National Aboriginal Gambling Awareness Conference which will take place between June 5th and 7th in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

2006 California Prevalence Study [report]

2007-01-31T09:50:00.000-08:00

The 2006 California Problem Gambling Prevalence Survey (2006, August) was just released online. The study team was led by eminent gambling research Dr. Rachel Volberg.

"In this report, respondents are classified as at-risk gamblers if they scored 1 or 2 on the lifetime NODS; as problem gamblers if they scored 3 or 4 on the lifetime NODS; and as pathological gamblers if they scored 5 or more on the lifetime NODS.

Based on the NODS, the lifetime prevalence of pathological gambling in California is 1.5% and the lifetime prevalence of problem gambling is 2.2%. The prevalence of lifetime at-risk gambling in California is 9.5%. The overall lifetime prevalence rate of problem and pathological gambling in California (3.7%) is at the higher end of the range of prevalence rates identified using this screen in other states and nationally."

For those of you who like gambling prevalence studies, be sure to look at the pages I've put together for studies from Canada, the U.S. & other international jurisdictions.

U.K. Casino Advisory Panel Recommendations [report]

2007-01-30T10:14:00.000-08:00

And the winner of the "regional casino" competition is... the City of Manchester!

The U.K. casino advisory panel released a report entitled "Final report of the Casino Advisory Panel" (2007, January 30). The report lists the various cities that were selected to host a "regional casino" (1), "large casinos" (8) and "small casinos" (8). Much of this 180-page document is devoted to discussing the strengths and weaknesses of each of casino submission based on criteria related to social impact and ability to economically regenerate an area.

CPGI Index Review [report]

2007-01-26T07:51:00.000-08:00

The report "Performance and enhancement of the Canadian Problem Gambling Index (CPGI): Report and recommendations" (2006, September) was produced by Healthy Horizons Consulting for a group of Canadian funding agencies interested in acquiring feedback on the instrument’s performance.

Included in the study are details about prevalence studies from around the world which have used the CPGI.

N.Z. Gambling Conference 2006 [presentations]

2007-01-25T08:17:00.000-08:00

Abstracts and presentations from the "International Gambling Conference: Gambling and Its Impacts - Policy, Practice and Research Perspectives (Auckland, New Zealand)" which took place September 13-15, 2006 are available online courtesy of the International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction.

Mix and Match [3 reports]

2007-01-24T10:01:00.000-08:00

The following three reports have been recently made available online...

1) Assessing the Contribution of Gambling Venue Design Elements to Problem Gambling Behaviour (2006, November) -- Funded by the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre (OPGRC).

2) 2006 Arizona Youth Survey: Arizona Gambling Profile Report (2007, January) -- A report from the Arizona Criminal Justice Commission which provides one of the first glipses of gambling participation for that state's young people.

3) Survey on the Perceptions & Attitudes Towards Gambling Issues in Singapore (2006, September) -- For more information about gambling in Singapore, you might consider attending the Problem Gambling Conference 2007 in that country.

Internet Casino and Internet Poker Players [summary report]

2007-01-23T10:49:00.000-08:00

The report "eCOGRA Global Online Gambler Report: An Exploratory Investigation into the Attitudes and Behaviours of Internet Casino and Poker Players [Media Summary]" (2007, Janary) is billed as perhaps the largest survey of online gamblers ever undertaken.

The summary report provides some useful demographic details about Internet gamblers but, unfortunately, doesn't delve much into problem gambling or get into the specifics of amount gambled online. I did, however, appreciate the details on poker playing and how players often participate in between 1 and 4 games simultaneously while playing online.