Speaker: Dr Brett Abarbanel (University of Nevada, Las Vegas)
Hosted by: University of Liverpool Management School's Centre for Sports Business
Open to: All staff, doctoral students and MBA students, with no sign up needed
Date: Monday 5 February 2024
Time: 4:15 - 5:15pm
Place: Brett Building, 19 Abercromby Square, Liverpool L7 7BD
Abstract
From social casino games to esports to virtual reality and in-game payments, many familiar games activities blend the two concepts of gambling and gaming.
Dr. Abarbanel will discuss where we have been along the journey of gambling and gaming convergence internationally, calling on perspectives from esports, sports, and gambling.
She will review areas of esports betting and its role in the broader esports ecosystem, skill games, esports and game integrity, and the unique data rights frameworks and applications in esports.
Finally, she'll look toward a future where this intersection between gambling & gaming is showing up in unusual and unexpected ways.
Speaker
Dr. Brett Abarbanel is Executive Director the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, International Gaming Institute, and Associate Professor in UNLV’s William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration. She has a research affiliate appointment at the University of Sydney School of Psychology’s Gambling Treatment and Research Clinic.
Dr. Abarbanel's research explores the intersection of of gambling with esports, video games and traditional sports. She also has extensive experience in gaming operations and technology, responsible gambling and community relations, and gaming history.
Dr. Abarbanel is the Executive Editor of the UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal, and editorial board member at International Gambling Studies and Harvard’s Division on Addiction’s Brief Addiction Science Information Source and recently completed a term on the International Advisory Panel for Singapore’s National Council on Problem Gambling.
She is a founding director of the Nevada Esports Alliance, which promotes development of best practices at the intersection of the esports and regulated gambling industries.
In 2021, she was among seven industry expert professionals named to the Nevada Gaming Control Board’s first-ever Esports Technical Advisory Committee, which is responsible for making recommendations to the board on guidelines for maintaining integrity in esports when betting is involved.
She completed her B.S. in Statistics and B.A. in Architectural Studies at Brown University, where she received the Hartshorn Hypatia Award for excellence in mathematics. She completed her M.S. and Ph.D. at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she received the Best Thesis and Best Dissertation awards for her work on sports book patronage and online gambling user experiences, respectively.
Centre for Sports Business
The University of Liverpool Management School's Centre for Sports Business offers world-leading research, consultancy and executive education courses in the business of sport.
Bringing expertise from a wide range of backgrounds, including expertise in sports analytics, marketing, economics, leadership, governance and finance, to make the Centre for Sports Business (CSB) a leading hub for sports business knowledge and practice.
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