Gaming Research Center
The Gambling Research Center (Universität Hohenheim) 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 of 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 (state, June 2011): Regulation political-economic analysis of the gambling market Regulation of the gambling market Effects of regulatory measures on the gaming behavior Social benefits and costs of regulatory measures Link between the availability of gambling and a problematic or pathologic gaming behavior Tasks and rights of gambling commissions in other European countries Tasks and rights of a created German gambling Commission Prevalence Frequency of gambling in kids’ or teenagers’ age and age- or gender-specific features Analysis of the internet offer of gambling Online or “terrestrial” – Who plays where and when? Encumbrance of problematic/pathologic players Gambling and criminal acts among teenagers and adults Gambling and money laundering Prevention and therapy Preventions measures and its evidence-basing Reasons for gambling participation for players with and without problematic gaming behavior Substitution and complementarity-relationship between forms of gambling Relationship of pathologic players to money Readiness to take risk of pathologic players Cognitive errors and pathologic gaming behavior Definition and research of the risk groups (considering immigrant background, gender aspects,…) Economics Taxation of Gambling Fraud-, manipulation-, crime-risk potential of single gambling offers Suppliers of Internet gambling: specialists and Full-Liner Competitor conditions on the gambling market Mergers and Acquisitions on the gambling market Analysis of consumption of gambling Presentations "Recent Developments in German Gambling Law",