On Monday, the online gaming site bwin, one of the world’s largest gaming entertainment companies that offers a sports book, poker and casino action, entered into an agreement with the Division on Addictions at the Cambridge Health Alliance, a Harvard Medical School Teaching Affiliate, to continue their research into online gaming.
Over the last three years, bwin and the Division on Addictions have been examining many aspects of the online gaming world, developing and testing responsible gaming initiatives and providing customers with responsible gaming information and tools. This study has been so successful that the two organizations have extended their agreement to last over the next five years, with a focus on establishing a scientific evidence base that can guide the development of safe, recreational gaming environments and prevent the emergence of gaming-related problems as well as reduce any such problems that already exist.
The studies that have been conducted by the Division on Addictions and bwin over the past three years have been the most extensive that have ever been performed in the online gaming world. The different studies have collected information from nearly 50,000 bettors and poker players from bwin’s offerings and differ from past studies in a significant manner. Because the information is drawn directly from those who are on the site and not asked directly of the players, the data gathered has not been affected by the recall of players or their biases in a standard format questionnaire. It is thought that through this method of data collection that a program can be developed that can encompass responsible gaming through different tools and applications presented by a gaming site.
“bwin has taken the leading position in the industry for corporate social responsibility. Their commitment to the scientific process and unwillingness to take shortcuts to achieve short-term gains is noteworthy and indicative of its commitment to the health and welfare of its subscribers,” said Dr. Howard Shaffer, Associate professor at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Division on Addictions, to the Wall Street Journal.
“Through its relationship with the Division on Addictions, bwin has supported numerous scientific inquiries, including the first ever scientific longitudinal study of actual internet gaming behavior, numerous scientific publications, and editorial position statements. bwin has integrated responsible gaming efforts into its business practices and made empirically-supported self-help resources available to its subscribers.”
Manfred Bodner, Co Chief Executive Officer of bwin, seems to believe that the extension of the research will help the online gaming industry as a whole. “We need to understand what goes on in consumers’ minds and be able to answer fundamental questions about online gaming based on scientific evidence and not based on speculation,” he stated to the Wall Street Journal.
“Ultimately, we are interested in creating behavioral models capable of predicting certain outcomes. Therefore, we are working towards establishing the scientific foundation that will yield algorithms capable of identifying risk patterns associated with disordered gambling so that we can prevent them.”
The continuation of the study for the next five years should present many new breakthroughs in the online gaming world. Identifying problematic gambling, customer patterns and security could be significantly changed with the findings of the researchers from Cambridge and Harvard. For that, bwin and the researchers at Harvard and Cambridge must be commended and their continued discoveries applied to the online gaming industry.
