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.

Playing the Machines [Documentary]

On Tuesday, March 24 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CBC NEWS: THE LENS, the documentary Playing the Machines will be airing. According to the web site:

Playing the Machines features the stories of three people: "Trailer Park Boys" actor and VLT addict, John Dunsworth; Susan Piercey, from Corner Brook, Newfoundland, a young woman who started gambling at 18 and took her life; and the late Garnet Rhyno of Halifax, "a devoted husband and father who loved life" until he became addicted to VLT's.

Playing the Machines is shot in Las Vegas, South Carolina, Halifax and St. John's and includes commentary from several gaming experts and two people who have been fighting against video lottery terminals. Newfoundland lawyer Ches Crosbie is leading a class action lawsuit that includes Keith Piercey's case about his daughter's suicide; and Richard Gergel who won the fight to ban VLT's in South Carolina for good.

Online Version of Internet Gambling Report XI

The Internet Gambling Report -- Eleventh Edition (2008, October) is available online for the first time. The online edition costs substantially more than paper -- $US 595 for 12-month e-subscription vs. $US 195 for print -- but has the advantage of providing access to content from previous editions and continuing updates. For organizations where several people are accessing this content frequently, the online version might be a good option.

The site also offers a "standard subscription" for free which allows access to sample content from each chapter.

Game Integrity & Professional Sports Betting Markets [Newsletter Article]

With activities such as tanking, spying, referee bias, and match fixing threatening the integrity of individual sporting events... what's a sports league to do? To help shed light on this issue from a research perspective, University of Alberta Ph.D. student Brian Soebbing is analyzing sports wagering data in an attempt to detect efforts to undermine the integrity of individual matches.

Read the full interview with Soebbing in the December 2008 / January 2009 issue of Gambling Research Reveals newsletter.