Alberta Gambling Research Institute

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Factors Influencing the Development of Responsible Gambling: A Prospective Study (Update November 5th, 2004)
(Alberta Gaming Research Institute, 2004-11-05) el-Guebaly, Nady; Hodgins, David C.; Smith, Garry J.; Williams, Robert J.; Williams, Vickii; Schopflocher, Don P.; Wood, Robert T.; Pickup, Mark
Gambling is a normative activity in the Alberta population, with 82% of the adult population having gambled in the past year. Although the large majority of Albertans gamble responsibly, there is a small percentage that experience significant problems. The design of effective educational and legislative strategies to minimize the harm caused by gambling hinges on understanding the factors that promote responsible gambling and/or make people susceptible to problem gambling. Longitudinal studies are the optimal methodology for investigating such questions. This methodology has been used extensively and successfully in the fields of health, mental health, sociology and addiction. Unfortunately, there exist virtually no longitudinal studies of gambling. It is this important gap in the research literature that provided the impetus to assemble a cross-disciplinary and cross-university Alberta research team to develop the present proposal.