The UK’s Responsible Gambling Trust is doubling the budget for its research into gambling machines with the highest stakes and prizes.
Following discussions with the government, the RGT made the decision to expand its research programme and increase the available budget by 50 per cent to £750,000 to provide research it said is needed to “inform policy decisions” relating to the LBO sector.
The second phase of research will explore the way that people use machines in betting offices to identify behaviour that is potentially harmful and will seek to understand how "clustering" of machines or the locations of LBOs and the populations they serve may influence behaviour.
“The Responsible Gambling Trust understands that there is growing concern about gaming machines in LBOs and that is why we are expanding our research programme to ensure that policy makers have access to the best possible research to inform decisions,” said chief executive Marc Etches. “The research the RGT is commissioning is ground-breaking and will involve a number of internationally recognised experts who will seek to consider all aspects of this issue from the way people play machines to where they are located.
“We believe this independent research has the potential to significantly advance our knowledge and understanding of harmful gaming machine play and help to identify the most effective means of protecting all those who choose to gamble."
