IRGO Conference: Stockholm 18th-19th Oct 2007

The first IRGO conference was attended by 114 delegates representing 23 different countries from afar afield as Australia, Canada and Israel. Gaming operators, academics, clinicians, regulators and policy makers came together to hear about the latest responsible gaming initiatives and how they were being put into practise.

Presentations demonstrated a range of innovative responsible gaming initiatives. These included SpelKoll (PlayScan) a system that monitors online player behaviour which can predict when gambling starts to become problematic; GAM-GaRD, a design measure used for identifying the potential risk of new games for vulnerable players, and demonstrates how the game can be made safer; and some valuable insights into how the design of casinos can affect vulnerable players gambling behaviour.

The conference programme also included practical examples of how responsible gaming can be put into practise through examples of evidence based decision making, considerations for excluding under-aged players, identifying problem gamblers, as well as examples of established responsible gaming initiatives, and suggestions for future improvements in responsible gaming both online and offline.

Co-Director Richard Wood said: “The response has been fantastic and it shows that responsible gaming is truly an international issue. There is clearly a need for better communication of responsible gaming research findings and applications, and that is what IRGO does.”

Co-Director Mark Griffiths added: “There have been some great presentations about research and practice which stimulated some very interesting discussions. This has been an excellent first conference and we look forward to many more over the years.”

IRGO would like to thank Svenska Spel for sponsoring the conference and for their support in organising the event. We would also like to thank The Spelinstitutet for providing further excellent organisational services.

Conference presentation slides and papers (links open in a new window) :

• Introductory Speech Dr.Richard Wood & Dr. Mark Griffiths
• Dr. Richard Wood & Anne Pattberg- The Gambling Assesment Measure: Risk Involving Structural Characteristics (GAM-GaRD)
• Dr. Richard Wood- Investigating Swedish online poker players’ attitudes and perceptions toward online poker playing, trust of websites,and responsible gaming policies
• Dr. Mark Griffiths presentation-Key Social Responsibility Issues forInternet Gambling
• Margaret Mcgee Presentation- Fostering Evidence-Based Decision Making In Responsible Gambling Programming
• Dr. Jonathan Parke Presentation- Corporate Social Responsibility In Internet Gambling: Player Perspectives
• Dr. Karen Finlay Presentation- Interactions Between ambler Temperment and Emotions Induced by Casino Design
• Dr. Peter Collins Presentation- Social Policy and Responsible Gaming
• Pieter Remmers Presentation- A real Dutch Treat on problem Gambling and Responsible Gaming and Holland Casino
• Spelkoll (Play Scan)- Jesper Karrbrink
• Dr. Jeffrey Derevensky Presentation- Youth internet Gambling: Some Problems and possible Solutions
• Dr. Paul Delfabbro Presentation- Identifying and Assisting Problem Gamblers Within Gaming Venues
• Anne Pattberg Presentation- Responsible Game Design in Camelot
• IRGO Program Final