International Gambling Conference 2012

The 4th International Gambling Conference is being held at Auckland’s Crowne Plaza Hotel from Wednesday 22 February to Friday 24 February 2012.

The conference, themed Shaping the Future of Gambling – Positive Change through Policy, Practice and Research, has attracted a host of leading international and local academics, researchers and over 200 delegates from more than 14 countries around the world.

The first day of the conference features keynote speaker, Manuka Henare, Associate Dean (Maori and Pacific Development) at the University of Auckland Business School. His keynote address, entitled Ludo Mania – Entertainment and Business, will focus on the links between entertainment and business – tying in his knowledge of economic development, Māori specific business and his involvement with the health sector’s determinants of poverty.

Also featured on the first day is keynote speaker, Ashley Gordon, former NRL player, Aboriginal researcher and trained gambling counsellor. Ashley will share his experiences working to support Aboriginal communities and provide insights on how workers in the problem gambling sector can support Indigenous communities.

Dr Jim Orford, Professor of Clinical and Community Psychology at the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom, is keynote speaker on Thursday 23 February. Dr Orford will draw on his recent book, An Unsafe Bet? The Dangerous Rise of Gambling and the Debate we Should be Having, and a new theory, the Gambling Restraint Erosion Theory, to argue that gambling is not an ordinary commodity that can be left to the free market to manage.

Well-known anti-pokies campaigner, Independent Senator for South Australia, Nick Xenophon, will address the conference on Friday 24 February at 9.30am. His presentation focuses on gambling reform in Australia and how the hung Parliament provided the opportunity for gambling reform to be a key issue.

The conference is preceded by an International Think Tank on Gambling Research, Policy and Practice on 20 – 21 February, hosted by AUT University’s Gambling and Addictions Centre. The purpose of the Think Tank is to advance understanding of gambling in the context of public health and social/economic development. Attending will be leading international gambling experts, including researchers and policy makers from Sweden, Finland, Hong Kong, United Kingdom and Australia.

The 4th International Gambling Conference 2012 is hosted by Hapai Te Hauora Tapui Maori Public Health, the Gambling and Addictions Research Centre at AUT University, and the Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand.

For information on the conference and to view the complete programme please visit www.internationalgamblingconference.com

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