Pennsylvania: academic hired to study igaming impact

New annual reports could be used as evidence in policy-making procedures.

US.- Academic Glenn Sterner has been awarded a contract through the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP) to explore the impact of online gaming in Pennsylvania.

Sterner, who is an assistant professor of criminal justice at Penn State Abington and coordinator of the Greater Philadelphia Office of the Criminal Justice Research Center (CJRC), will be assisted by Penn State’s Social Science Research Institute.

The research will involve conducting a telephone survey giving participants across the state the opportunity to share their experiences with online gambling.

Data will be collected yearly and the annual reports could be used as evidence in policy making.

Sterner said: “While working in conjunction with SSRI, we plan to pull on expertise and present results of reports and assessments to policymakers in Harrisburg.

“We have the ability to utilize the strengths across Penn State, integrating resources from an interdisciplinary perspective, to provide needed knowledge to DDAP for ways to target prevention and intervention initiatives to address any issues we may find.”

“We’re hoping to be really proactive about these issues. We want to make sure we’re asking the right questions relevant to policymakers, and it’s our goal to develop a theoretical perspective on interactive gaming after we expand our understanding on the effects that interactive gaming has on communities and individuals.”