Sports betting company bwin extends safe gambling study

Bwin, one of Europe's largest online sports betting and gambling company, has signed a 5-year agreement for research collaboration with the Division on Addictions at the Cambridge Health Alliance, a Harvard Medical School Teaching Affiliate. The research will focus on creating the safest gambling environment, combating problems such as gambling addiction, while creating an entertaining environment for the company's customers. "Bwin has taken the industry's leading position 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. 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," Dr. Howard Shaffer, Associate professor at Harvard Medical School and Director of the Division on Addictions, said in a press release distributed by the sports betting firm.

The online gambling company has been working with the Harvard affiliate for three years, analyzing data from 47,000 customers over the period and has signed 5-year extension of the collaboration. The main focus is to develop an array of tools and application which would not only battle existing problems in gambling, but also act proactive in preventing further emergence of gaming-related problems. "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. 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," said Manfred Bodner, Co-CEO of the sports betting and gambling company based in Austria.

Published on 12/16/2008