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On February 5, 2008, a consortium of gambling researchers, regulators and treatment providers from across Canada released The Socio-Economic Impact of Gambling (SEIG) Framework. The SEIG Framework is designed to guide researchers and policy makers in measuring and reporting on the social and economic costs and benefits of gambling in Canada. The gaming industry has grown extensively since the early-1990s. This expansion has created a significant need for a methodology to objectively and consistently measure the true impact of legalized gambling. In response to this need, the SEIG Framework provides a map for assessing the qualitative and quantitative impact of gambling across six domains: health and wellness impact, economic and financial impact, employment and education impact, recreation and tourism impact, legal and judicial impact, and cultural impact. Impact is both positive and negative and can be evaluated at the level of the individual, the family or household, the community, the region and the province. Assessing the wide range of positive and negative social and economic impact of gambling is complex and we face many research challenges. The key challenge is a general lack of robust impact data for the various domains and indicators. Another important challenge is causality, namely, the difficulty in determining the degree to which gambling is a contributing factor to change in a given indicator. The SEIG Framework has an open architecture. This means that it is a starting point and will evolve as researchers and policy makers use it to conduct impact studies and as new research continually emerges. We welcome and encourage all gambling researchers to work with the SEIG Framework, both by using it as a guide for impact studies and by contributing with research that fills the many research gaps. We plan to hold an international symposium in two years to bring together those working with the SEIG Framework to share their research and to discuss future directions in this area. The executive summary of the framework, along with the full report in both English and French is available below. Or, view the webinar recorded on Wednesday, February 27, 2008. Mark Anielski, the report’s author, discusses the SEIG Framework and the conceptual, theoretical and methodological measurement challenges and data limitations with respect to social and economic impact analysis. The Interprovincial Group would like to hear from you. Please send your comments and questions on the SEIG report to info@gamblingresearch.org and we will share your comments and answer your questions using an online forum. SEIG News Release (posted Feb 6, 2008)  Click Here to Download SEIG report - Executive Summary (posted Feb 6, 2008) Click Here to Download SEIG report - English Version (posted Feb 6, 2008) Click Here to Download SEIG report - French version (posted Feb 6, 2008) Click Here to Download To view the webinar presented on February 27th, 2008 go to the following link and enter the password, "ontario" (if required): Socio-Economic Impact of Gambling (SEIG) Framework You will need the WebEx player to view this file on your computer. You can download and install the WebEx player from this link: Download | 
