The Nova Scotia Gaming Foundation, together with a consortium of gambling researchers, regulators and treatment providers from across the country, today released The Socio-Economic Impact of Gambling Framework. The framework will guide decision makers and researchers in measuring the social and economic costs and benefits of gambling in Canada.

Gambling is a multi-billion dollar industry that has grown extensively in all provinces since the early-1990s. This growth has created a significant demand from governments, the gambling industry, community groups and the public for reliable information on the positive and negative consequences of gambling for individuals, families and communities.

In announcing the framework’s release, Kristianne Dechant, Chair of the interprovincial group and research analyst for the Manitoba Gaming Control Commission, stated, "We need accurate estimates of the costs and benefits of gambling to make responsible policy and regulatory decisions, but many impact studies to date have been based on questionable assumptions and produced wide ranges of estimates. Calculating the impact of gambling is a complex and long-term undertaking, but this framework is a starting point for objectively measuring this impact."

The Nova Scotia Gaming Foundation encourages gambling researchers and policy makers to work with the SEIG Framework, both through using it as a guide for provincial impact studies and by contributing to research that fills the many research gaps. The interprovincial group expects that, with wide ongoing use, this framework will become accepted as the preferred methodology to apply when taking a true measure of gambling’s impact.

"Today marks the beginning of our ability, as a country, to guide researchers and policy makers in measuring the true impact of gambling on individual gamblers, the family or household, the community, regions, provinces, and Canada, "said Celeste Gotell, Executive Director of the Nova Scotia Gaming Foundation.

The full Socio-Economic Impact of Gambling Framework, including an Executive Summary, can be found on the Nova Scotia Gaming Foundation’s web site at

Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse, British Columbia Gaming Policy and Enforcement Branch, Alberta Gaming Research Institute, Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority, Manitoba Gaming Control Commission, Addictions Foundation of Manitoba, Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre, Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux (Québec), Nova Scotia Gaming Foundation, and Government of New Brunswick Department of Health.