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| Theme of the summit: “Responsible Gambling Behaviors” |
The Responsible Gambling Awareness Week 2010, co-organized by the Social Welfare Bureau of Macao SAR, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau of Macao SAR, and the Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming (ISCG) of the University of Macau (UM), has kicked off. The Cross-Strait Responsible Gambling Summit, which was part of the Responsible Gambling Awareness Week 2010, opened at the Ho Yin Convention Centre of UM yesterday (23 August 2010). The summit aimed to provide a platform for internationally renowned scholars, counselors, government officials, representatives from problem gambling prevention and treatment centres, industry practitioners, and those committed to promoting responsible gambling, to share their views and practice so that local people from all walks of life can understand more about this topic.
Prof. Alexander Blaszczynski of Sydney University and Mr. Paul Smith of British Columbia Lottery Corporation, Canada, were invited to give keynote speeches at the summit. Specialists and scholars from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Macao participated in panel discussion. Their topics mainly revolved around the definition of “responsible gambling”, promotion methods, how to realize “responsible gambling”, and risk factors that affect the practice of responsible gambling behaviours.
There was a cross-strait panel for scholars and professionals from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao to share their experience in promoting responsible gambling behaviours. Panel speakers included Dr. Wang Xuehong, Executive Director of the China Center for Lottery Studies at Peking University, Prof. Liu Day‐yang, Director of the Center for the Study of Lottery and Commercial Gaming in Taiwan, Dr. Irene Wong Lai‐kuen, assistant professor of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Dr. Davis Fong Ka-chio, Director of the Institute for the Study of Commercial Gaming at UM.
Alexander Blaszczynski is a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Sydney, Co-director of the University of Sydney’s Gambling Research Unit, and Director of the Gambling Treatment Centre. He is a researcher and clinical psychologist with a long history of involvement in treatment and clinical research covering a range of impulse control disorders, pathological gambling in particular. He has published extensively on the topic of gambling, carried out randomized treatment outcomes studies using behavioural interventions, assessed the prevalence of depression and suicide rate, and the relationship between crime, gambling, and personality characteristics of impulsivity and sensation-seeking in pathological gamblers.
Mr. Paul Smith chairs the Interprovincial Lottery Corporation’s (ILC) Responsible Gambling sub-committee. Paul recently led the British Columbia Lottery Corporation to achieve the World Lottery Association’s highest level of accreditation in responsible gambling. So far only 14 regions in the world have gained this distinction.
