Research

Monte Carlo simulations show that slot machines with the same house advantage and per-spin volatility can produce very different amounts of play time. The study examines how pay-table structure affects the time players receive from a bankroll.

Applies product-bundling theory to integrated casino resorts, using a spatial model of U.S. casino markets. The study examines how resort amenities extend a market’s geographic reach and how the value of those amenities varies with the density of nearby demand.

Uses blockchain transaction records to study how lottery players respond to ticket prices, transaction fees, and jackpots. Purchases rise with larger jackpots and fall as participation becomes more expensive, suggesting that familiar patterns of gambling demand persist in onchain markets.

Analyzes account records from 72,494 online sports bettors in four European countries. Within-player comparisons associate voucher and e-wallet deposits with lower daily stakes than bank transfers, while withdrawal timing also varies by payment method. These observational patterns help identify how payment choices relate to betting behavior.

New stablecoin legislation in the U.S. and Europe is making it easier for consumers to gamble at unlicensed offshore sites, undermining regulations designed to protect them. This paper argues that regulators should adopt a channelization framework that measures success by what share of gambling occurs within the licensed market, and proposes tax and product policies that keep regulated operators competitive with offshore alternatives.

Proposes shared benchmarks for evaluating AI systems that detect gambling-related risk. The paper sets out how common datasets, clearly defined tasks, and comparable performance measures could improve transparency and help distinguish useful player-protection tools from unsupported claims.

Examines the limits of the corporate casino model as a response to organized crime. This commentary argues that revenue incentives, regulatory weaknesses, and relationships with intermediaries can leave vulnerabilities even after corporate ownership replaces direct criminal control.

Using a choice experiment with 783 online poker players, this study finds that consumers are willing to pay significantly more to play on government-regulated poker sites compared to unregulated ones. Players valued regulation at about $1.83 per hour extra, suggesting that government oversight creates real consumer trust and provides regulated operators a competitive advantage over unlicensed alternatives.

Clarifies the aims of the Positive Play approach in response to a debate about responsible gambling. The authors explain how measuring healthy gambling beliefs and behaviors can complement existing frameworks, with responsibilities shared by individuals and the organizations that provide gambling.

Maps 1,481 U.S. gambling venues and nearby population demand to assess the strategy of attracting players from other states. The analysis estimates where access favors out-of-state venues and shows how geography shapes opportunities to export gambling services or retain local demand.

Tracks responsible gambling accreditation scores across 75 casinos participating in RG Check. Scores improved at the first reassessment, especially among initially weaker venues, but showed no clear further gains at the next. The findings suggest that accreditation needs additional support to sustain improvement.

Follows online sports bettors to examine what happens after a large win. Compared with matched players, big winners showed increased betting involvement, losses, and risk indicators in subsequent weeks, with effects diminishing over time. The results do not establish that a big win causes a gambling disorder.

Studies how 719 online poker players value the number and types of opponents available on a platform. Larger networks are attractive when games are scarce, but additional growth has diminishing value; as networks expand, the composition of the player pool becomes increasingly important.

A survey of 643 people finds that those who speculate on meme assets like GameStop or Dogecoin perceive less financial risk, show higher overconfidence in their investment ability, and score higher on measures of gambling problems. The results suggest that meme asset speculation functions psychologically like gambling for many participants, raising questions about whether these products should fall under gambling-related consumer protections.

Tests the proposed link between mistaken gambling beliefs and gambling problems using a survey and five years of longitudinal data. Distorted beliefs were associated with current and later problems, including chasing losses and spending beyond intended limits, supporting a key relationship in the Pathways Model.

Links the home locations of 6,234 Canadian gamblers to 110 casinos to study access and gambling problems. Closer access was associated with greater risk, with visit frequency helping explain the relationship. The findings highlight travel convenience as a consideration in casino location policy.

Compares immediate responses to conventional slot machines and machines with a skill component in a laboratory study. Both produced similar levels of immersion, while skill-based play changed perceptions of how outcomes were determined without resolving players’ uncertainty about the role of skill.

Assesses whether a four-item measure of financially focused self-concept works consistently over a month in 147 community gamblers. The scale showed stable measurement properties, and greater financial focus was associated with more gambling problems at both assessments. Longer follow-up is needed to establish the direction of that relationship.

Uses millions of daily fantasy sports entries to examine changes in play following large wins. Big wins were associated with subsequent increases in participation, entry fees, and losses, which faded over time. Wins later in a player’s history had stronger associations than early wins.

Evaluates a short scale measuring the extent to which people tie their identity to financial success. Community and student samples support its use across repeated assessments, while also showing a positive relationship between financial focus and gambling problems and some differences between groups.

Compares people’s confidence in understanding gambling machines with their actual understanding, using an online survey and a laboratory experiment. Overconfidence was associated with more favorable attitudes toward conventional slot machines; the same relationship did not appear for machines with a skill component.

Applies the Theory of Reasoned Action to intentions to play conventional slots and machines combining chance with skill. Surveys of casino patrons and online participants found that favorable attitudes and perceived social approval predicted interest in both types of machine.

Uses focus groups after participants try conventional and skill-based gambling machines to explore their experiences. Players recognized a role for skill but often misunderstood how it affected outcomes, highlighting the importance of clear product information as these games develop.

Examines who plays skill-based gambling machines and how well they understand them. In an online survey, players tended to be younger, gamble more frequently on some other products, and report greater gambling problems. Experience with the machines did not translate into better objective understanding.

Reviews the features of skill-based gambling machines and the evidence relevant to potential harms. The paper identifies gaps in knowledge about real-world use and outlines priorities for player education, protective tools, and evaluation as gambling products incorporate elements of video games.

Tests the Positive Play Scale in a national sample of 5,751 Canadian gamblers. Results support four dimensions of positive play: personal responsibility, gambling literacy, honesty and control, and pre-commitment. Higher scores were associated with fewer distorted beliefs and gambling problems.

Evaluates the Gambling Beliefs Questionnaire as a measure of beliefs about luck and control over gambling outcomes. The study finds support for aspects of the measure’s validity but a poor fit for its proposed factor structure, identifying opportunities to improve how gambling beliefs are assessed.

Analyzing data from over 50,000 Canadians, this study finds that living near more casinos increases both gambling participation and the risk of gambling problems, even as overall problem gambling rates have been declining nationally. The findings suggest that expanding casino tourism should be paired with increased investment in responsible gambling programs to offset localized harm.

Combines a review with focus groups to examine how responsible gambling messages can be tailored to different audiences. Participants favored positive, nonjudgmental language, but differed in their preferences for budgeting advice, reflection on play, and information about odds and outcomes.

Studies financially focused self-concept among 412 gamblers, most of whom reported no gambling problems. Tying self-worth closely to financial success was associated with impulsivity, dissatisfaction with finances, less helpful coping beliefs, and distorted gambling beliefs, linking financial identity to several established risk factors.

Examines how customers’ views of a gambling operator’s responsible gambling efforts relate to satisfaction. Perceived program adequacy and beliefs about the operator’s motives were associated with customer evaluations, showing why the credibility of responsible gambling commitments matters to the customer relationship.

Develops the Positive Play Scale through consultation with players and experts and a survey of 1,551 gamblers. The measure captures personal responsibility, gambling literacy, honesty and control, and pre-commitment, providing a way to assess healthy gambling beliefs and behaviors alongside measures of harm.

Uses economic theory to examine casino entry fees as a responsible gambling measure. The analysis finds weak support for their use: fees may deter price-sensitive recreational players more than people experiencing gambling problems, creating economic costs and increasing reliance on revenue from the latter group.

Demonstrates how sentiment analysis of tweets about Las Vegas integrated resorts can help track public responses to brands and marketing activity. The paper also examines limitations of the approach, including restricted data access, classification errors, and the difficulty of drawing conclusions from small samples.

Uses Monte Carlo simulation to examine the financial risk of hospitality discount programs. Restaurant and casino examples show how uncertainty in customer behavior and spending can produce outcomes that simple average-based forecasts miss, helping managers assess the range of possible returns.

Uses U.K. survey data to examine whether online and land-based gambling spending substitute for or complement each other. Across several statistical approaches, the results support complementary demand, suggesting that growth in one channel does not necessarily come at the expense of the other.

Analyzes U.S. state data from 1998 to 2009 to study how casino revenue taxes relate to employment. Higher maximum tax rates were associated with lower casino employment, illustrating a trade-off between raising tax revenue and supporting labor demand in the industry.

A book chapter examining gambling tax policy through the lens of normative economics. It considers how the design of casino taxes relates to the policy goals used to judge them.

Examines why jurisdictions adopt legal online poker, considering demographic, economic, political, technological, and social influences. An exploratory empirical analysis finds support for each category, indicating that legalization reflects a wider set of conditions than market demand alone.

Compares data-mining methods for identifying high-risk online gamblers from behavioral records. Strong performance on training data did not consistently carry over to new observations, and even the best-performing method missed many high-risk players. The study emphasizes validation beyond the data used to build a model.

Reassesses the relationship between online gambling and problem severity using data from Britain and Ontario. Adjusting for potentially omitted influences changed the estimated relationship, challenging a simple causal interpretation of the association between online participation and gambling problems.

Develops a model comparing taxes based on gambling activity with taxes based on casino revenue. Differences in price sensitivity between recreational and problem gamblers affect which tax performs better, showing why tax design and assumptions about gambling harms matter alongside the headline rate.

Applies normative tax theory to gambling, considering licensing fees, revenue taxes, external harms, and competition between jurisdictions. The analysis explains how an appropriate tax structure depends on demand sensitivity, links to other industries, and the public objectives taxation is intended to serve.

Uses data from 40 countries over 1990–2010 to examine the relationship between labor costs and tourism competitiveness. The analysis associates higher wage rates with lower tourism expenditure, highlighting the role of production costs in a destination’s ability to compete.

Examines online poker across U.S. states and Canadian provinces using market data from 2010. The analysis finds evidence that online poker and offline gambling were complementary in this setting, contributing to debates about how internet gambling affects existing venues.

Reviews William R. Eadington’s contributions to the economics of gambling. The article considers his role in developing the field and connecting economic analysis with questions about the casino industry and public policy.

Studies the early U.S. online gambling market before the 2006 federal payment restrictions. The estimates suggest that online gambling partly displaced commercial casino revenue in that period, underscoring the importance of market conditions when assessing competition between online and physical venues.

Reviews research and operator practices to identify responsible gambling options for online lotteries. The report finds uneven evidence and implementation across areas such as player information, account controls, staff training, and program evaluation, and sets out priorities for strengthening practice and research.

Explores how organizational culture affects the implementation of responsible gambling commitments. The report argues for integrating attention to player safety into everyday decisions across a business, rather than relying solely on formal policies, tools, or a specialist team.

Reviews Washington State’s responsible gambling practices and the availability of prevention, treatment, and recovery services. Prepared for the legislature, the report identifies gaps in provision and offers recommendations to improve support for people affected by gambling problems and their families.

Combines a review of training programs and research with a survey of 60 experts to identify educational needs among responsible gambling professionals. The report outlines core curriculum areas and highlights gaps in program evaluation, game design, and overcoming organizational barriers to implementation.

Assesses prospective regulated sports betting in Indiana through market forecasts, a regional consumer survey, and economic-impact modeling. It compares retail-only and retail-plus-mobile scenarios and examines their implications for revenue, taxation, and the wider economy.

An impact study examining sports betting and internet gaming in West Virginia, prepared to inform discussion of gambling expansion in the state.

Reviews monetary limit tools through research literature, a scan of 50 gambling websites, and player discussion forums. The report finds considerable variation in availability and implementation, with limited evidence of effectiveness, and identifies ways to make limits easier to find and use alongside other player protections.

Examines addiction and public health considerations associated with a proposed casino resort in Woodbury, New York. The report focuses on the potential implications of that development for the surrounding community.

Analyzes the U.S. online poker market and its growth prospects. The report brings together market analysis and forecasts to inform discussion of the industry’s development.

Argues that gambling researchers should make the ethical assumptions behind their policy recommendations explicit. The commentary shows how stating a study’s objectives and boundary conditions can make disagreements easier to interpret and improve the quality of policy debate.

Argues that responsible gambling commitments depend on the culture of the organizations delivering them. The commentary discusses how leadership, hiring, promotion, and incentives can support player protection and create room for responsible gambling innovation.

Examines how casino tax policy relates to short-run industry development using U.S. state panel data. The dissertation studies operators’ labor-market responses, including employment and wages, to changes in the tax environment.