East Carolina University launches new research center to study gambling and its effects

In March, online sports betting became legalized in North Carolina, joining more than half the states across the country allowing the activity.

Now, East Carolina University has launched a research center to study the impact gambling has on individuals and their communities. The effort comes through a partnership with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

WFDD's DJ Simmons recently spoke with ECU's Gambling Research and Policy Initiative Director Michelle Malkin about the research center.

Interview highlights:

On misconceptions surrounding gambling:

"I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that gambling addiction — or gambling disorders, it's called — only affects somebody financially, and it's all about losing all your money. It's not just a financial issue. It impacts a person's life socially. It impacts them in their employment, in their education. It impacts them in terms of their ability to move forward and make big decisions, because finances are always being kind of shuffled. But the financial piece is actually the easiest to fix."

On the initiative's partnership with state agencies:

"Our partnership with the state is really strong, and the reason that's important is because we need to know that we have access to things like the helpline data, which we do get, and constant communication over what our research shows so that they can do the activities, etc. that make sense."

On what she hopes this research accomplishes:

"I'm here to save lives. We know that one in five individuals with gambling disorder will attempt suicide. That is a very high rate. So my goal is, if we could save one life, we've done our job. And the way we need to do that is to help people feel like they don't need to experience the shame and guilt associated with gambling disorder, that there is help, that some help works, and that we're empirically looking at what help does work."

Editor's Note: This transcript was lightly edited for clarity.