The Gambling Commission has made two new additions to the Advisory Board for Safer Gambling (ABSG) in the shape of Dr Virve Marionneau and Dr Spencer Murch.
The role of the ABSG is to provide independent advice to the Gambling Commission regarding safer gambling to inform regulatory decisions.
All of the ABSG’s advice stems from insight provided by academia, research and other relevant disciplines inside and outside of gambling, with the board made up of five experts alongside its two new members.
Dr Marionneau will take on the role of board member and continue her other duties elsewhere, which include guiding the Centre for Research on Addiction, Control and Governance at the University of Helsinki in the role of director.
She is approaching her ninth full year at the University of Helsinki, arriving as a postdoctoral researcher in November 2015.
Dr Marionneau’s previous research has touched on multiple gambling-related issues, including regulations and policy evaluations, as well as digital gambling environments.
She also has experience when it comes to conducting research into gambling industry practices, and qualitative investigation of gambling experiences and harms.
Reflecting on her appointment to the ABSG, Dr Marionneau said: “I am honoured to join the ABSG, especially at a time when increasing international and cross-sector collaboration is needed to regulate and control gambling.
“I am thrilled to be a part of this impressive team of experts, and I look forward to advising particularly on regulatory practices and research from other jurisdictions.”
Meanwhile, Dr Murch is a cognitive psychologist whose work aims to “understand the cognitive, behavioural and psychophysiological profiles of addictive digital product use”.
He spent six-and-a-half years as a PhD candidate at the Centre for Gambling Research, University of British Columbia from September 2014 to January 2021.
Dr Murch, now a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Calgary, also aims to use emerging AI technology to detect and prevent gambling-related harm.
He talked up the impact the ABSG can have as he remarked: “I am eager to contribute to such a talented team as the ABSG.
“As AI technologies and digital gambling opportunities continue to evolve, it is more important than ever to understand clearly the threats posed to human health in the United Kingdom and around the world.
“The mandate of this group is important, timely and represents an opportunity to transform research insights into working harm-prevention policies.”
Dr Marionneau and Dr Murch will join the existing five-person ABSG board which is currently chaired by Dr Anna van der Gaag, a speech and language academic who was awarded the CBE for services to health and care in 2015.
Other members of the board include behavioural data scientist Dr David Zendle, gambling researchers Dr Philip Newall and Dr Steve Sharman, as well as Swedish Public Healthy Agency analyst Dr Ulla Romild.
Zendle and Sharman both joined the ABSG in February, after being chosen to allow the board to deliver the “most up-to-date expert advice to the next phase of work on the reforms set out in the Gambling Act review”.
The ABSG meet around every two months in sessions which are used to flesh out policy and advisory briefs. Often, the Gambling Commission will sit in on the meetings.
Dr van der Gaag said: “We are very fortunate to have Virve and Spencer as our newest members.
“They are highly respected academics, both with a strong record of achievement in the field of gambling studies, and together they will expand the national and international research expertise we offer to the commission.
“Gambling is a global business and the regulatory challenges faced in different jurisdictions have much in common.
“I am delighted to be welcoming them and have no doubt they will bring valuable new insights to an ever-expanding range of topics which inform policy and practice in gambling regulation.”
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