WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS....

11 January 2008

Doesn't necessarily stay there!


When a Canadian team of problem gambling researchers received a less than enthusiastic response to a request for cooperation from Las Vegas gambling organisations, it did the next best thing - taking a virtual Vegas to its research centre for study, according to a report this week in the Toronto newspaper The Globe and Mail.

Researchers at the University of Guelph laboratory are undertaking a study commissioned by the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre into the reasons why many gamblers slip into a trance-like state and bet beyond their means.

A 360-degree panoscope, which allows subjects to take a virtual walk through 17 Las Vegas casinos, and a room with eight programmable slot machines form the University of Guelph's newest research laboratory, designed to investigate the phenomenon.

"What is it about that interaction that contributes to the onset of problem gambling? And by problem gambling you're talking impaired control," said Rob Simpson, CEO of the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre, an autonomous body drawing on provincial money raised by collecting 2 percent of all slot machine profits from racetracks and charity casinos.

Karen Finlay, who heads the four-person team directing the project, said the research is useful in pressing governments and casinos to make changes that encourage responsible gambling, and in helping counsellors who treat problem gamblers to be better informed.

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