Playtech Funds ICRG Study of Gambling in Underserved Groups

ICRG to Research How Gambling Impacts Underserved Groups (Playtech Among Sponsors)

Apr 17th, 2024 Iryna SI

Playtech, a leading casino software developer, once again shows its position as a company that treats gambling responsibly. The enterprise announces that it is among the supporters of the ICRS’s research on how underserved communities are affected by gambling. Those living in the United States and Canada are the targeted research audience.

The International Center for Responsible Gaming (ICRG) is one of the leading organizations that pioneered research on gambling disorders since 1996. It often conducts competitions for research grants that are expected to drive awareness about gambling issues and potential solutions that can improve the state of things.

The research that focuses on the impact of gambling activities on the underserved categories in the US and Canada is one of the recent projects initiated by this organization. Thus, the organization announced the search for companies and organizations that would like to fund the research to ensure its high quality. Given how crucial the area of research is, no wonder that Playtech, one of the leading companies in the gambling industry, has decided to support it.

Playtech actively strengthens its positions in the US and Canadian gambling markets, so the results of the research can provide valuable information on gambling behavior in underserved categories and suggest changes that might help to protect them and ensure more responsible gambling for them. The findings will be beneficial for researchers, regulators, and those involved in policymaking in the United States and Canada, as they will be the ones to pioneer changes in customer protection policies. In the long run, this research can make those groups in the scope of the study less vulnerable when it comes to gambling activities.

IS IT THE FIRST RESEARCH OF THAT KIND?

Not at all! Previously, there has already been research on gambling among vulnerable categories in the United States. One of them was conducted by the University of Buffalo 10 years ago. It revealed that those people who live in poor neighborhoods and have limited access to resources have a twice as high risk of facing gambling problems compared to those living in neighborhoods with high economic advantages. According to this research published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions around 11% of those people living in areas with highest disadvantages have gambling issues.

At the same time, OnAir Entertainment was accused of spying on Playtech for over 2 years based on the statements of the former OnAir Entertainment employee.