gambling in alberta - Research Services - University of Lethbridge

RESEARCH APPROACH
Following the Money
An essential aspect of our research approach to studying socioeconomic impacts was to ‘follow
the money’. Although there are many areas of the economy and society where socioeconomic
impacts of gambling might be found, they are much more likely to be observed in the
groups/individuals/geographic areas that are responsible for contributing the money and in the
groups/economic sectors/geographic areas that are the recipients of the money. The sectors
primarily involved in the transfer and receipt of this money are the: Provincial Government;
Charitable Organizations; the general Alberta Populace (Society); Private Industry; and Alberta
First Nations. We then conducted a detailed examination of the impacts within each of these
groups/sectors. The final part of our analysis was the: a) evaluation of the aggregate
economic/monetary impacts that were identified against basic principles of economic gain/loss,
and b) evaluation of the pattern of social/nonmonetary impacts that were identified against
basic principles of societal value/benefit. (The theoretical framework used for evaluation of
impacts is described in detail in the next section of this report).
In addition to ‘following the money’, 4 specific research strategies were employed: Secondary
Analysis of Changes in Economic and Social Indices; Direct Investigation of the Known Impacts
of Gambling; Population Surveys; and Key Informant Interviews. These are described below:
Secondary Analysis of Changes in Economic and Social Indices
Rather than an exhaustive study of the universe of economic and social variables that may have
been impacted by gambling introduction, the present research focused on changes in areas that
have been identified in previous research as having some potential of being impacted by
gambling (Stevens & Williams, 2004; Williams, Rehm, & Stevens, 2011). The specific domains
that were investigated were:
Employment Rates
Business Revenue and Gross Domestic Product
Business Counts
Commercial Bankruptcy
Crime Rates (with a focus on crimes typically related to gambling)
Problem Gambling Indicators
o Rates of Treatment Provision
o Rates of Personal Bankruptcy (Consumer Insolvency)
o Suicide Rates
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