A collaboration between the Centre for Gambling Education and Research, Southern Cross University and the Gambling Research Unit, University of Sydney, aims to collect data that will help researchers, policy makers, and industry insiders gain a better understanding of Internet gambling and the people who gamble online. The project is titled 'An investigation of Internet gambling in Australia'. This research involves all Australians over the age of 18 who have gambled for money in the past 12 months.

A series of four brief questionnaires has been designed to test players’ gambling knowledge and gambling behaviour. Those taking the questionnaires will receive a score that shows how their gambling behaviour, knowledge, etc. compares to other people. Information from submitted questionnaires will be deposited into a data base, and the researchers will conduct statistical analyses of the data when the study is done. Participation in this research is extremely valuable in furthering the understanding of the nature of gambling and Internet gambling in Australia and will be helpful in guiding policy makers, operators and community groups’ response to Internet gambling.

The online survey was developed by Dr Robert Wood and Dr Robert Williams at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada. Dr. Sally Gainsbury, Professor Nerilee Hing and Professor Alex Blaszczynski are the researchers aiming to promote understanding of one of the fastest growing forms of gambling in Australia. Two members of the research team, Professors Hing and Blaszczynski, were appointed last year to the Australian Ministerial Expert Advisory Group on Gambling. According to Dr Gainsbury, the establishment of that advisory group demonstrates the increasing recognition from politicians, regulators, gambling operators and the community of the need to develop more knowledge about gambling and its prominence in society. (E-01.07.11)

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