The Responsible Gambling Trust is holding its second annual Harm Minimisation Conference on December 10, 2014, with a programme that will focus on the independent research into gaming machines located in licensed betting offices.

RGT

The research, which RGT commissioned with a consortium of researchers including NatCen Social Research and Featurespace, has been specifically directed at two questions posed by the Responsible Gambling Strategy Board, advisors to the Gambling Commission:

The questions are: “Can we distinguish between harmful and non-harmful gaming machine play?” and “If we can, what measures might limit harmful play without impacting on those who do not exhibit harmful behaviours?”

RGT chief executive Marc Etches said: "The government, the gambling regulator and the industry all asked us to provide wholly independent research using industry-held data to help inform policy decisions and we will shortly deliver a groundbreaking package of research that we believe will significantly enhance our understanding of these machines and the way people use them.

“The research is complex, there is a lot of it and will require careful thought and consideration by all concerned. The conference provides an opportunity for the research team to present their work and explain their findings in their own words.”

Ahead of the conference, RGT will publish a package of research reports on Monday, December 1.