This extensive and important report by the UK’s Rebecca Cassidy details the ways in which gambling research is presently conducted and funded. It also identifies a need for more unbiased reporting. It examines the state of gambling research and how it can be tainted by the influence of money and/or lawmakers who are supported by the gambling industry.
Online Gambling
Researchers Bet Casino Data Can Identify Gambling Addicts
Researchers now believe that the very data casinos use to track customers betting habits can be used as a tool to reduce the problem of gambling addiction. Addiction scientists can use customer tracking information to create computerized models to spot and warn people with high risk profiles. But the reality is, it is merely window dressing, with casinos having little incentive to intervene with their most lucrative customers.
2013 Researchers Bet Casino Data Can Identify Gambling Addicts
He Who Pays the Piper Calls the Tune with Gambling Research
A key study found academic research into gambling heavily biased, controlled by industry and government. Gambling researchers maintain funding by producing research that is safe, uncritical and reliably delivered. What is lacking is the asking of the uncomfortable questions and hearing even more uncomfortable answers, something the government nor gambling industry are inclined to do.
2014 He who pays the piper calls the tune- gambling with research
Big Problems with Gambling Research
With state legislatures across the country considering legalized gambling expansion, the need for unbiased research is crucial. While other fields, such as alcohol or tobacco rely on academia for fact-based evidence, many gambling researchers remain beholden to industry funding, resulting in flawed and influenced findings. The research produced by independent studies, while likely more valid, may be perceived as incomplete or inferior due to lack of funds and access to data.
Study finds homeless are 9 times more likely to become gambling addicts
Researchers at St. Michael’s Hospital found evidence that link pathological gambling to an increased likelihood of homelessness.
2014 Gambling addictions are nine times more likely among homeless
Expansion of Casinos Increases the Risk of Children Becoming Addicted Gamblers Later On in Life
This study commissioned by the British Columbia Lottery Corporation shows a link between a parent’s gambling activity and their child’s attitude toward and participation in gambling.
“Youth who report that their parents have gambled in the past year have a significantly higher participation in various gambling activities than youth who report that their parents have not gambled in the past 12 months,” the paper stated.
An addictions psychiatrist Shao-Hua Lu says the expansion of casinos increases the risk of children becoming gamblers later on in life. According to Lu, the likelihood of a person developing a gambling problem as an adult is directly related to their parents’ gambling habits. “It’s no different from how increasing smoking exposure increases subsequent likelihood of smoking addiction.”
Music and sound effects contribute to why you keep losing at slot machines
A research team at the University of Waterloo has done extensive studies of the psychology of gambling including the manipulation of music and sound effects to create the sensation that a user won even though they actually lost their money on the spin.
DE casinos launch online operations
The three casinos in the state of Delaware are about to put in motion the first phase of their online gambling operations, which will be run through Facebook. The first phase will include only free games but within months, these casinos hope to have up and running full-fledged casino games online, running through Facebook. Delaware is now the first state in the nation to have legal casino games online. These two articles, from the USA Today and Delaware Online, describe this development, which will allow problem gamblers to throw their money away from the comfort of their own couch and allow America’s kids to get sucked in through Facebook.
Delaware’s 3 casinos launch free online gaming
Delaware casinos’ online gambling will be run through Facebook
Casinos get strong warning for perpetrating financial crimes
According to this story from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “Casinos have long reaped profits from what can politely be described as plausible deniability when it comes to identifying the source of their large cash customers’ income.” Jennifer Shasky Calvery, director of the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), wants to put a stop to that. In a speech at the annual gambling trade show, G2E, Shaky Calvery called for a cultural change inside the casino business to root out and stop financial crimes, such as money laundering. This comes as an ominous warning for casinos, who often benefit from some shady deals.
Study finds that disadvantaged youth may be more likely to become problem gamblers
This article from The Baltimore Sun summarizes the findings of a new study from Johns Hopkins University that concluded that disadvantaged youth have a higher propensity to become problem gamblers, due in part to their increased level of participation in betting on dice in the streets or betting on sports games, which serves as a gateway to more serious, problem gambling when they are allowed in a casino. These discoveries come on the heels of an increased casino and gambling presence in Maryland, where the study took place.
Disadvantaged urban youth may be more likely to be problem gamblers