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For Immediate Release

Focal to Share Groundbreaking Research at Responsible Gambling Council Discovery Conference in Toronto this May

Halifax, NS: May 2nd, 2025 –

Focal Research Consultants announced today that Dr. Melissa Salmon will present at the Responsible Gambling Council Discovery Conference in Toronto Ontario, Canada, May 20-22, 2025.

“I look forward to sharing evidence and insights around safer gambling interactions at this year’s Discovery Conference,” said Dr. Melissa Salmon, Applied Research Lead at Focal, “Using real-world player behaviour, our team has looked at how safer gambling interactions can produce measurable impacts for players, including which characteristics of in-person interactions lead to sustained changes in play. This session will cover key findings from our large-scale evaluation and latest research as well as our approach to measuring these impacts.”

Tracy Schrans, President of Focal, added, “Evaluation is critical in the safer gambling space and needs to be built into the core of policy and practice to monitor for intended outcomes and unintended consequences. Understanding these impacts allows us to improve the actions we can take with operators and players to more effectively prevent and reduce gambling-related harm.”

About Focal Research

Focal is an independent safer gambling research and technology company focused on gambling risk detection and player support.

Our research on player behaviour has led to the creation of a state-of-the-art gambling risk detection system, called PREVENT, which helps regulators and operators prevent and mitigate gambling-related harm.

Building on 30 years of applied gambling research experience, we continue to investigate real-world gambling behaviour and safer gambling impacts, providing evidence-based insights to inform policy and practice on a global scale.

About the Responsible Gambling Council Discovery Conference

Welcoming attendees from around the world, the three-day conference explores the intersection of gaming and gambling, along with innovations in safer play and harm reduction. It also examines emerging forms of gambling and how technology is shaping the future of the gambling landscape.

The Responsible Gambling Council (RGC) is an independent and respected non-profit organization that has been a leader in gambling harm prevention and minimization in Canada, and globally for over 40 years.

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