University of Mississippi launches $700K center to research effects of gambling

• The University of Mississippi has launched a new dedicated center aimed at understanding gambling behavior among students
• The institute will cost $700,000 a year to run and look to set up prevention programs as well as employ an evidence-based approach
• This comes at a time when college students in Mississippi are increasingly engaging in gambling

The University of Mississippi has launched an ambitious new research center that will seek to actively study the impact that gambling is having on the nation, and college students in particular.

The Center on Collegiate Gambling was given the go-ahead from the Institutions of Higher Learning Board of Trustees back in February, and it will cost $700,000 per year to maintain.

An evidence-based approach focused on understanding college student gambling behavior

The expansion of sports betting and online gambling will be studied in detail to better understand how these phenomena are now affecting student-athletes and the general student body, and it comes at a crucial time when gambling among students is climbing in the state of Mississippi.

By one estimate, 39% of Mississippi college studentsgambled in the past year across a variety of verticals, while 6% of students also qualified for being classified as "problem gamblers."

Commenting on the launch of this new center, Hannah Allen-King, executive director of the university's William Magee Institute for Student Wellbeing and assistant professor of public health, said:

"We really think that this is an issue that affects Mississippi at large. And so, we're trying to work with our legislators as they debate policy change around gambling in the state."

Institutions of higher learning have been actively concerned about the advancement of gambling among college students, raising an alarm over the proliferation of betting on campus.

Many have banned sportsbooks from advertising, and the NCAA, which oversees college-level competitions, has asked companies such as DraftKings and FanDuel to refrain from using what it says are trademarked assets to promote gambling.

The new center will conduct academic research meant to study student gambling behavior across multiple verticals - card games, betting, and even prediction markets, which is an important clarification.

The research will focus on evidence-based policies entirely, as well as programs that are meant to enact early intervention and stop further pernicious influences from developing earlier.

Daniel Durkin, an associate professor of social work who is also one of the center's founding members, has said that a more structured dialogue around gambling beyond "it’s fun" needs to be broached.

"The seriousness of the issues has not really come to the forefront yet, but it's only a matter of time," Durking added - the center is set to address that.

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