The APCG 2013 successfully held...

The Second Asia Pacific Conference on Gambling and Commercial Gaming Research took place December 1–4, 2013 in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan. The conference was organized by the Asia Pacific Association for Gambling Studies (APAGS) and hosted by both I-Shou University and the National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism. Caesars Entertainment and Konami Gaming, Inc. were the platinum sponsors and the Global Gaming Research Center was the silver sponsor. Also, this conference received financial support from the Taiwan Ministry of Education, the National Science Council, the Economic Development Bureau of Kaohsiung City Government, and the Macao Social Welfare Bureau. The Lottery Research Center of China in Beijing Normal University was the associate sponsor.

At the conference, approximately 60 papers were presented and discussed. These papers covered nearly every aspect of gambling studies, including problem and responsible gambling, gaming business administration, decisions under uncertainty, gaming regulations and public policies, etc. More than 180 delegates from more than 10 countries and regions, such as Australia, Canada, UK, USA, Finland, Singapore, Korea, Japan, mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao attended the conference. A number of Taiwan officials and scholars attended the opening ceremony, conference dinner or Integrated Resort and Regional Economic Development Summit. These officials and scholars included Dr. Jei-Fu Shaw, President of I-Shou University, Mr. Chiang-Tung Pan, Vice-President of the National Kaohsiung University of Hospitality and Tourism, Ms. Hsien-Hui Liu, Deputy Director General of the Tourism Bureau of Kaohsiung City Government, and Dr. George Lin, Managing Partner of Lin & Partners.

Four invited professors delivered keynote speeches at the conference. Professor Cathy Hsu, from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, presented “Gaming Development in Taiwan”; Mr. Anthony Cabot, Adjunct Professor of the Boyd School of Law and William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Partner of Lewis and Roca LLP, USA, presented “Why gaming laws need to be crafted based on the unique policies, structure and capabilities of each jurisdiction”; Professor Mark Griffiths from Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom, presented “The convergence of gambling and gaming addictions on the Internet”; and Professor Linda Hancock from Deakin University, Australia, presented “Transnational Macau Casinos: Their Framing and Operationalization of Responsible Gambling”. Also, a preconference workshop was offered to the conference delegates free of extra charge. It was titled “How to develop, implement and evaluate a prevention program for excessive gambling among youths and adults” by Dr. Robert Ladouceur, Professor Emeritus of Laval University, Canada.

With the generous support of Caesars Entertainment and Konami Gaming, Inc., APAGS was able to administer the best paper awards and conference student scholarships for this conference. The two best papers were: “A new perspective on weekend effect: Empirical evidence from the horserace betting market” by Ming-Chien Sung, University of Southampton, United Kingdom (coauthored with Johnnie E.V. Johnson, John Peirson, and Chung-Ching Tai); and “Poker players with experience and skill are not ‘ill’—Exposing a discrepancy in measures of problem gambling” by Jussi Palomaki from the University of Helsinki, Finland. Each of the presenters was awarded MOP (Macau Pataca) 10,000 (USD 1,250) in cash, and a certificate. The recipients of conference student scholarships were Ms. Mogu Shu and Juliet Chen, both from the University of Macau. They were awarded MOP 1,500 each in cash to partially cover their accommodation during the conference.