August 2010 Statistical Report on Gambling from Statistics Canada

Statistics Canada recently came out with the statistical report “Gambling” which appears in the August, 2010 issue of Perspectives. It includes information on provincial government revenues and profits by province, characteristics of workers & jobs, household expenditures on gambling & gambling activities, etc.

The Alberta Gaming Research Institute page "Handbooks, Encyclopedias & Statistics" contains links to past reports by Statistics Canada related to gambling. They seem to publish updates on this topic on an annual basis.

Institute's 9th Annual Conference (2010) -- Presentations

The Alberta Gaming Research Institute's 9th Annual Conference took place last weekend (April 8-10, 2010) at The Banff Centre in Banff, Alberta. Speaker presentations for the majority of conference sessions are available from the "Completed Conference 2010 Program" page.

NCAA Survey on Gambling

A recent study funded by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) could have implications for educational initiatives designed to raise awareness and prevent problem gambling behaviours. Results from a 2008 study of the wagering of 20,000 college athletes were compared to a similar survey that took place in 2004.

For details:

• "Progress in Combating Gambling" (2009, Nov. 16) from Inside Higher Ed.
• Results from the 2008 NCAA Study on Collegiate Wagering (2009, Nov. 13)
  

Australia's Productivity Commission to Release Draft Report on Gambling in October, 2009

Anyone involved in gambling research will be counting the days until the release of the Australian Productivity Commission's Draft Report from their Public Inquiry of Gambling. It's scheduled to be released in October, 2009 with the final report presented in February, 2010.

This particular inquiry will provide an update on gambling developments since the Commission's 1999 report. At the time of this posting, there were 256 submissions to the Commission... many of them research-related.

CBC Calgary Features Alberta Gambling [WWW & Multi-Media]

Earlier this month -- May 1, 2009 to be precise -- CBC Calgary made available an excellent feature entitled "Alberta gambling: who wins, who loses?" The various topics include:

• Timeline -- Key dates related to the development of gambling in Alberta.
  
  
• Where the money goes -- A somewhat simplified chart that provides a broad view of the amount of generated gambling revenues in Alberta... also where gambling-related funds are directed.
  
  
• Debtating VLTs -- A short a-v clip profiling the individuals involved in the proposed plebiscite on video lottery terminals in the Town of Rocky Mountain House, AB looks... some nice scenery of the town as well.

Historical Annual Reports Related to Government Gaming & Gambling in Alberta

From experience, I can tell you that it's not particularly easy to locate current, compatible statistics related to gambling revenues from Canadian provinces (though the Canadian Gambling Digest 2007-08 does an admirable job).

It can be every bit as daunting to go back in time to dig up reports that provide historical information on gambling in the various provinces. Some of the issues you'll have to contend with include: inaccessible publications, frequent changes in government departments responsible for gaming, and report content that can be difficult to decipher.

Having said all that, anyone requiring “historical” annual reports from Alberta related to gambling will definitely want to review my Alberta - Historical Annual Reports web page . It includes a listing of reports that are available in PDF format that have been digitized (with the permission of the publishers) by the Institute Library.

For the reports that don’t have PDF links at present, I’m investigating the possibility of including these in the future. Enjoy!

"Winners and Losers" CTV W-FIVE Documentary

"With experts suggesting nearly one third of the government's gambling revenue comes from problem gamblers, some wonder if enough is being done to prevent damage and despair, or is the government itself addicted to gambling?"

Continuing on the theme of Canadian gambling documentaries... CTV's W-FIVE aired an episode entitled "Winners and Losers" on March 28th, 2009. It examined the self-exclusion program in Ontario casinos and found that systems to detect self-excluded gamblers weren't particularly stringent.

NOTE: You can watch the entire re-broadcast online from the CTV web site after an obligatory advertisement.