Study Confirms Responsible Gaming Direction

Nova Scotia's video lottery terminals (VLTs) do not need more distinctive clocks or a feature that would let players set their own time, a new pilot study shows.

The gaming corporation today, Nov. 15, released results of the pilot study, which looked at the effectiveness of six enhanced responsible gaming features recommended by Focal Research Consultants Ltd. in 2002.

"This type of research is part of the corporation's on-going commitment to seek out evidence-based information to support our responsible gaming initiatives," said Marie Mullally, president and CEO of the gaming corporation.

The six suggested enhancements -- which included making the permanent clock more distinctive and letting players set their own time -- had been included in a 2002 study of the impact of four responsible gaming features that had already been implemented.

The new research, also conducted by Focal Research Consultants Ltd. showed that the enhanced features had little additional benefit over the existing four features.

As a result of the research findings, the gaming corporation will not have the additional features installed on Nova Scotia's VLTs.

"We feel that this decision is the right one based on the research findings," added Ms. Mullally. "We're also very encouraged with the researcher's recommendations since they are consistent with the direction in which the corporation was already headed."

The pilot study report recommends that responsible gaming resources be focused on a card-based solution that will allow players to keep track of the amount of money they spend.

This recommendation fully supports the initiative that the gaming corporation has been actively pursuing over the last year.

The full pilot study report is available on the gaming corporation website at http://www.gamingcorp.ns.ca .