Penn State University to conduct study on the effects of online gambling

Glenn Sterner, an assistant professor of criminal justice at the university, will team up with Penn State’s Social Science Research Institute and the Survey Research Center to conduct the study, according to Penn State News.

The study will be conducted as a telephone survey that will allow those involved to share their online gambling experience. Those that participate will likely be used again in future studies as it will look to compile data and publish an annual report.

The report is one of the first of its kind and is aimed at helping lawmakers shape the rules surrounding the market in the coming years. Sterner’s research will dig into the costs of problem gambling compared to the tax revenue the industry generates.

“While working in conjunction with SSRI, we plan to pull on expertise and present results of reports and assessments to policymakers in Harrisburg,” said Sterner to Penn State News. “We have the ability to utilize the strengths across Penn State, integrating resources from an interdisciplinary perspective, to provide needed knowledge to DDAP [Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs] for ways to target prevention and intervention initiatives to address any issue we may find.”

The study comes as online gambling is exploding and more states are legalizing online gambling and sports betting. And those states that have historically been against legalizing gambling activities, are starting.

Last year, Alabama introduced a bill that would legalize sports betting in the state. There was also a push to bring brick-and-mortar gaming from the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, but Gov. Kay Ivey said that she wouldn’t consider signing anything until a study was conducted that showed the effects of gambling on the citizens.

Pennsylvania legalized online gambling, including sports betting and poker, in 2017. The online poker market didn’t launch until two years later. Between the brick-and-mortar casinos and its booming online market, Pennsylvania has become one of the biggest gaming markets in the country.