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Focal to Speak on Technologies Role in Supporting Safer Sustainable Gambling at the Canadian Gaming Regulators Association Conference 2023

For Immediate Release

Halifax, NS: August 21st,  2023 –

Focal Research Consultants Limited announced today that the CEO and President of Focal will present at the Canadian Gaming Regulators Association Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada on September 21^st, 2023.

President of Focal Research, Tracy Schrans, says, “The need for collaboration and cooperation in supporting a healthy sustainable gambling industry has never been more critical.” In her talk, “Regulating the Game Not the Players: Using Technology, Player Data and Oversight to Support Safer, Sustainable Gambling in Canada,” Tracy will explore how player safety and gambling integrity are equally important for licensing compliance and how this requirement is ramping up not winding down, with mounting consequences tied to the failure to protect customers and businesses from gambling risk and harm as well as crime.

CEO of Focal, Dr. Tony Schellinck will delve into, “Helping Regulators in Setting Safer Gambling Standards and Evaluating Impacts: The Future of Safer Gambling Products and Practices.” He will discuss how regulators can use player data routinely gathered and stored by operators to monitor and report on impacts and how this insight can be used to set meaningful player safety standards. He will also touch on Focal’s latest in-session research project developed here in Nova Scotia with co-funding from Focal and the National Research Council of Canada.

Tony says, “We are looking at the ability to use in-session data for tracking anonymous, uncarded or carded play during a single session of play. Instead of looking for risky players this approach identifies risky behaviours and practices so that action can occur further upstream and stop problems from developing. This opens new possibilities for expanding player protection to everyone gambling at the venue, normalizing safer gambling, and averting risky practices/decisions that can occur in the moment.”

About the Canadian Gaming Regulators Association Conference:

Previously the Lottery Licensing Administrators, the Canadian Gaming Regulators Association (CAGRA) was created in 1990. Today, CAGRA has grown to encompass licensing administrators, investigators, and auditors who are involved with gaming regulation who wishes to share their knowledge and experience with their counterparts from across the nation. Attendees recognize that that CAGRA presents an opportunity to become familiar with other jurisdictions’ gaming issues and policies, as well as provide a time to network with fellow colleagues through a structured formal setting and informal social activities.

Although it has no official status or structure, CAGRA has managed to continue its existence through the dedication and effort of all Canadian regulators. Provincial and territorial regulatory agencies take turns hosting the conference and it has rotated throughout most of Canada. Every conference is self-supporting and attempts to be revenue neutral. The host CAGRA jurisdiction is responsible for planning the agenda, organizing presentations and forums as well as arranging networking and social opportunities – occasionally this has included a trip to a local gaming facility.

https://businesseventshalifax.com/events/cagra-2023

About Focal Research Consultants Limited:

Focal Research, a Canadian data analytics company, uses data science and information technology for social policy, corporate social responsibility, and consumer protection purposes. For three decades, Focal has worked with stakeholders worldwide, setting responsible gambling standards for player protection with international recognition in developing algorithms to help operators identify and assist at-risk gamblers.