International Centre for Youth Gambling

On September 21, 2023, Dr. Derevensky will deliver a presentation titled “The impact of gambling advertisements on gambling behavior” at the Institute for Gambling and Society Conference in Ruhr-Universitat Bocuhm, Germany.

On June 29, 2023, Dr. Derevensky will deliver the keynote address at the Current Advances in Gambling Research Conference in London, U.K.

It’s never too early to start thinking about joining the Gift Responsibly Campaign!

Make a difference for your clients and customers – join your colleagues across the country and around the world in our responsible gambling campaign to raise awareness regarding the risks of underage lottery use. Lottery products are appropriate for gifting only to adults, from adults.

Research shows why: the earlier a person’s participation or even exposure to gambling in childhood, the more likely they are to develop gambling problems later in life. And gambling in childhood is frequently some kind of lottery product, given through lack of awareness by a well-meaning adult.

This public-private campaign was previously known as the Holiday Lottery Responsible Gambling Campaign.  The name was changed in response to requests from lottery organizations and feedback from our global stakeholders.

Whether or not it is legal for minors to participate in lottery games in your area, a responsible gambling message is always appropriate. The campaign continues to be endorsed and receives support from the World Lottery Association (WLA), European Lotteries (EL), and the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries (NASPL).

Registration links and campaign toolkits will be available in the late summer of 2022.

2022 Durand Jacobs Award – Call for Papers

The International Centre for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviors at McGill University invites submissions to the 2022 Durand Jacobs Award competition, to be awarded to the best graduate student paper related to the psychology of addictive behaviors. This annual award is dedicated to Dr. Durand Jacobs’ lifelong desire to help mentor students. Published and/or publishable papers will be considered by the selection committee, comprised of an international panel of experts in the field. The recipient will receive an award plaque and their work will be featured in the Youth Gambling International newsletter. Graduate students from all related disciplines are encouraged to submit their papers by April 30, 2022.

Please submit all entries electronically in Word format to lynette.gilbeau@mcgill.ca.
If you have any questions, please direct them to:
Lynette Gilbeau by email, or telephone: (514) 398-4438.

Raschkowan Lecture Series: Gambling in the Digital Age, 2.0

Presenter: Dr. Henrietta Bowden-Jones, President of Psychiatry, Royal Society of Medicine; Director, U.K. National Centre for Behavioral Addictions (National Problem Gambling Clinic and National Centre for Gaming Disorders)

The talk will give an overview of the UK gambling landscape, the size of the problem, the issues faced by both politicians and clinicians in dealing with technology as a means to both providing gambling opportunities and blocking gambling activities. The recent government Review of the 2005 Gambling Act will be discussed.

Treatment, policy and prevention will all be covered in an attempt to address the most pressing issues facing the “digital age.”

Speaker Bio

Professor Henrietta Bowden-Jones OBE is a medical doctor and neuroscience researcher working as consultant psychiatrist in addictions while leading two national clinics in the UK. She was appointed Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2019 New Year’s Honours for Services to Addiction Treatment and Research. Dr. Bowden-Jones is the current President of Psychiatry, Royal Society of Medicine (2020-2022) as well the Founding Director of the National Problem Gambling Clinic, the first NHS treatment centre in the UK for the treatment of problem gamblers which she established in 2008. She holds many national and international awards including Psychiatrist of the Year – 2020 Award from the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Dr. Bowden-Jones is an Honorary Professor, Faculty of Brain Sciences, UCL, and Honorary Senior Visiting Research Fellow, Dept of Psychiatry, Cambridge University. She is a Trustee of the Royal Society of Medicine, has numerous publications and is a regular expert advisor to both Westminster and the House of Lords on matters pertaining to gambling disorder, gaming disorder and mental health.

The Raschkowan webinar series is free to attend, but registration is required.  For more information or to register, see www.ncpgambling.org/Raschkowan

In June, the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) and the International Center for Youth Gambling Problems & High Risk Behaviors at McGill University announced the Gift Responsibly Campaign (GRC), a re-branding and expansion of the former Holiday Lottery Campaign. Each year lotteries around the world help raise awareness about the risks of underage lottery play during the December holiday season. While the campaign aims to continue its focus on holiday season giving at the end of the year, the name change enables lotteries to expand the responsible giving messaging for all the occasions where children might receive lottery tickets as gifts (e.g. birthdays, graduations, etc.). In addition, the GRC will offer lotteries and other organizations three new creative collateral design options, including digital files that can be used for social media sharing.

For more information about the campaign, visit www.ncpgambling/org

The recipient of the 2021 Durand Jacobs Award is Thomas Swanton for his paper titled “Debt stress partly explains the relationship between problem gambling and comorbid mental health problems.” The Durand Jacobs Award recognizes outstanding work related to the psychology of addictive behaviors, and is dedicated to the late Dr. Durand Jacobs’ lifelong efforts to help mentor students. Congratulations Thomas!