Re-Engineer Our Thinking: The Evolution of RG
This session will challenge participants to reexamine their established understanding of, and approach to, responsible gambling. It will invite us to rethink RG strategies and the ways we communicate to players and the general population. Society is undergoing a major shift and it is influencing all areas of our lives – including the world of responsible gambling. Speakers will outline current challenges, evolving social and cultural values related to gambling, and the ways we can reposition responsible play in response to these changes – including adapting current guidelines so messaging is no longer tailored to the extreme end of the problem gambling spectrum, developing lower-risk gambling guidelines, and providing actionable strategies to keep gambling safer before a problem ever develops.
Thursday, April 16th, 3:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Room TBA
Speakers:
Scott Mitchell
Scott Mitchell is a Knowledge Broker at the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA), and is a Ph.D. candidate and instructor at Carleton University. His research focuses on risk communication, public understandings of science, and social media analytics and monitoring.
Sasha Stark
Sasha is Senior Researcher for RG+ and the Responsible Gambling Council. In her academic and not-for-profit work, she has engaged both Canadian and international stakeholders in the responsible gambling space. Her more recent projects focus on re-envisioning youth gambling prevention, developing and evaluating responsible gambling training for various levels of staff, participating in community-based gambling prevention programs, and exploring the implications of sports betting and cannabis expansion.
Christina Thakor-Rankin
Christina has over 25 years’ experience in the betting and gambling industry. Starting out in the pre-dotcom era, she has a career spanning land, internet and mobile, covering all aspects of gaming operations, holding senior roles with some of the world’s best known brands (including William Hill and Virgin).She is currently Principal Consultant at 1710 Gaming Ltd working with start-ups, investors, established operators, regulators, law enforcement and industry groups across the world, advising on all aspects of the gaming and gambling cycle.
Matthew Young
Senior Research and Policy Analyst at the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA) and Adjunct Research Professor at Carleton University. Matthew has been studying substance use and addiction for over 20 years. He currently co-chairs the scientific committee developing the Lower Risk Gambling Guidelines.