Gaming Research Center


The Gambling Research Center examines the various aspects of gaming and gambling through an interdisciplinary scientific approach. The goal of the Center is to systematically and scientifically examine the wide range of topics relating to gaming and gambling such as lotteries, sports betting, card games and gaming machines.

History

The Gambling Research Center was founded at the Universität Hohenheim in 2004 with Prof. Dr. Tilman Becker acting as its head. Scientists whose main interests concern games of chance may join the scientific management board of the research center. At present, more than 20 professors from various disciplines and universities are members of the scientific management board. They bring their expertise from various fields of knowledge, such as consumer behavior, mathematics and statistics, finance, law, economic theory, communication and information science, household and gender economics, marketing, game theory, econometrics as well as psychology and medicine.

Goals

The Gambling Research Center aims at scientifically examining all topics relating to gaming and gambling from an interdisciplinary, in particular economic, mathematic, social, medical, psychological, and legal point of view.
Practice has shown that the individual disciplines come to different results as long as they do not relate their research findings. Such conflicting assessments are being examined in the Gambling Research Center.

Symposiums

Every year representatives from academia and business gather to discuss current trends in and aspects of the topic gambling and gaming. The legal and regulatory aspects play just as large a role as addiction prevention and the economic impacts of gambling. About 200 representatives from all fields, including psychology and medicine, participate in the one- to two-day conference at the Universität Hohenheim.

Need for further research

The interdisciplinary Gambling Research Center suggests for further research in the following areas :
Regulation
Prevalence
Prevention and therapy
Economics
Xouridas, S., Jasny, J., Becker, T, in: Journal of Gambling Issues
Series for gambling research
Gesellschafts- und Glücksspiel: Staatliche Regulierung und Suchtprävention. Band 1; Becker, T., Baumann, C. ; 2006