Robert J. Williams

My name is Robert J. Williams, and for most of my professional life I’ve been trying to answer one core question: why do some people gamble recreationally without lasting harm while others experience serious, cascading consequences—and what can we do (practically and ethically) to prevent that harm?

I’m a clinical psychologist by training, and I began my career working directly with people and communities—first as a regional psychologist in northern Manitoba, and later as a clinician at the Addiction Centre in Calgary. Those early roles shaped how I think to this day: gambling isn’t only a personal choice or a moral issue; it’s a public-health and policy problem with measurable risk factors, predictable environmental drivers, and interventions that can be tested like any other prevention strategy.

Joining the University of Lethbridge and the Alberta Gambling Research Institute (2001–present)

In 2001, I joined the University of Lethbridge in Alberta in a position funded through the Alberta Gambling Research Institute (AGRI). Since then, I have served as a Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences and as an AGRI node coordinator / research coordinator, working at the intersection of research, prevention, treatment, and public policy.

Through AGRI, I’ve also worked within a provincial and national research network that takes gambling seriously as a domain where strong evidence can and should guide regulation, prevention programming, and harm-reduction measures. The University of Calgary’s AGRI profile summarizes the practical side of my role well: I teach courses on gambling, consult frequently with government, industry, media, and public interest groups, and I’ve often provided expert witness testimony on gambling impacts.

What I’m known for in gambling research

Over time, my work has become most associated with a handful of interlocking themes:

• Prevention of problem gambling (what works, what doesn’t, and why)
• Etiology (causes) of problem gambling using a biopsychosocial lens
• Online gambling / Internet gambling, including player behaviour, motivations, and policy implications
• Socioeconomic impacts of gambling and the distribution of revenue—especially the portion that can be traced to people experiencing gambling problems
• Indigenous communities and gambling, with emphasis on accurate prevalence measurement and context-appropriate policy discussions
• Best practices in population assessment, because policy is only as good as the measurement behind it

These aren’t separate topics for me—they’re connected. For example, if you want prevention to work, you have to understand which gambling formats are most harmful, which environments intensify risk, and what the population data actually show.

Major research projects and funded work

One useful way to understand my career is to look at the kinds of projects I’ve been responsible for and the time horizons involved. A few examples listed on my University of Lethbridge profile include:

• “The development of responsible gaming in Alberta: A prospective study” (2004–2011)
• “Examining the socioeconomic impacts of a Race Track Slots facility in the Belleville, Ontario area” (2006–2012)
• “Social and economic impacts of gambling in Alberta” (2008–2010)

Even without going into every sub-study, these timelines show something important: meaningful gambling research often needs longitudinal designs, policy-relevant endpoints, and enough time to observe real outcomes—not just short-term self-reports.

Online gambling: why it matters, and what I’ve studied

When online gambling began scaling quickly, it forced researchers (and regulators) to revisit assumptions. Online platforms change:

• access (24/7 availability)
• speed and continuity of betting
• privacy/anonymity
• marketing and frictionless spending
• the availability of behavioural tracking data that land-based gambling rarely provides at the same resolution

I’ve contributed to this area in two ways.

1) Mapping and synthesizing the evidence (2007)

One of the cornerstone pieces many people still cite is the report I co-authored with Robert T. Wood: “Internet Gambling: A Comprehensive Review and Synthesis of the Literature” (2007), prepared for the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre (Ontario, Canada).
That work aimed to do what policy discussions often fail to do: separate what we know from what we assume, and identify which claims were actually supported by evidence.

2) Studying internet gamblers directly (survey work in 2003–2004; published analyses later)

In one published line of work, we drew on a broader survey-based study of Internet gambling conducted in 2003 and 2004, examining characteristics of people who prefer Internet gambling and the reasons they give for those preferences.
This isn’t only an academic question. If convenience and constant availability are key motivators—and they often are—then responsible-gambling tools and regulatory guardrails must be designed for that reality.

Prevention: building and testing “Stacked Deck”

One of the projects I’m most proud of is Stacked Deck, a structured, school-based prevention curriculum designed to teach young people the real mechanics of gambling—odds, house edge, common fallacies, risk factors, and decision-making skills.

A peer-reviewed evaluation published in 2010 reported that after students received the program, they showed more negative attitudes toward gambling, improved knowledge and resistance to gambling fallacies, and decreased gambling frequency and decreased rates of problem gambling at follow-up (compared with controls).

Stacked Deck has also continued as a practical training and delivery program. The program’s own information page notes that training is available through a “train-the-trainers” format delivered by me as the original developer.

For me, this work represents a principle I try to apply across my career: prevention shouldn’t be just slogans (“gamble responsibly”). It should be curriculum-quality education plus environment-aware policy.

National Canadian evidence: the 2018 Canadian Community Health Survey gambling module

In recent years, one of the most policy-relevant bodies of work I’ve been involved in is the analysis of the 2018 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) gambling content.

In cooperation with Statistics Canada, a brief assessment of gambling behaviour and problem gambling was developed and included in the 2018 CCHS as the “Gambling Module.”
This enabled a detailed national picture—who gambles, what they gamble on, and which forms are most linked to harm.

A key finding from the national analysis is that electronic gambling machine (EGM) participation emerged as the primary predictor of problem gambling status, alongside additional demographic and mental health correlates.
That result matters because it translates directly into prevention logic: if a product category consistently accounts for a disproportionate share of harm, then availability, design, and access conditions become central levers for public health.

Teaching, public-facing work, and expert testimony

I’ve never viewed gambling research as something that should live only inside journals. The University of Lethbridge and AGRI materials describing my role emphasize the same pattern: alongside research and teaching, I’ve provided frequent consultation to government, industry, and media, and I’ve regularly provided expert witness testimony on gambling impacts.

This matters because gambling policy debates often attract heat but not light. My aim in these settings is typically consistent:

1. Define the measurable outcome (problem gambling prevalence, harms, comorbidity, revenue concentration, etc.)
2. Identify the strongest risk drivers (product type, availability, speed, structural characteristics)
3. Match interventions to mechanisms (education, friction, limits, product redesign, treatment access)
4. Evaluate impacts over time using credible measurement

A selected list of “signature” contributions

Below is a non-exhaustive list of research contributions that are frequently used in Canadian and international discussions of gambling harm and online gambling—selected because they mark major themes rather than because they’re the only work I’ve done:

• Internet gambling literature synthesis (2007) — comprehensive review prepared for a Canadian research centre
• Prevention evidence review (2007) — a broad synthesis of what prevention approaches have empirical support
• Online vs land-based preference research (based on 2003–2004 surveys) — motivations and characteristics of internet gamblers
• Stacked Deck prevention program evaluation (2010) — tested, school-based prevention with measurable behavioural outcomes
• Canadian national prevalence and predictors work using the 2018 CCHS gambling module (2020–2021 publications and related outputs) — evidence intended to support public-health policy and regulation

Advancing Knowledge in Gambling Studies

Throughout my career, my central goal has been to bring clarity, structure, and reliable evidence to the study of gambling as a social and economic phenomenon. Since joining the University of Lethbridge in 2001 and working within the framework of the Alberta Gambling Research Institute, I have focused on building a research program that connects theory, data, and real-world policy questions.

From early clinical and applied research to large-scale population studies and long-term projects, my work has consistently aimed to improve how gambling is measured, understood, and evaluated. This includes research on player behavior, market structures, participation patterns, and the evolution of gambling formats, including online environments.

Equally important has been the effort to translate research into practical tools, educational frameworks, and evidence-based policy discussions. Projects such as longitudinal studies in Alberta, national survey work in cooperation with Statistics Canada, and the development of structured educational programs reflect a broader commitment to methodological rigor and applied relevance.

Looking ahead, I continue to see gambling research as a field where data quality, transparent methods, and interdisciplinary collaboration are essential. Whether the focus is on land-based venues or online platforms, the objective remains the same: to advance knowledge, refine analytical tools, and support informed, evidence-driven discussion about the role of gambling in contemporary society.