Montreal mock casino lets researchers study digital gambling behaviour

At first glance, it looks like a fun night out at a casino: gaming terminals, bright lights, and an inviting atmosphere that encourages players to test their luck.

It isn’t paying out winnings, but it is all part of CHANCE, a Concordia University research project studying how digital gambling environments affect behaviour.

A casino built for research

Located on Concordia’s Sir George Williams Campus in downtown Montreal, the CHANCE Collaboratory recreates key elements of modern gambling spaces to study how digital game design, social interaction and decision-making intersect — and how those factors can increase the risk of gambling-related harm.

Formally known as the “Collaboratoire pour les études des jeux de hasard et d’argent numériques connectés,” CHANCE functions as both a laboratory and a collaborative space. It allows researchers to conduct experiments while also welcoming partners and visitors to observe how gambling environments shape behaviour and decision-making.

The collaboratory is co-directed by Sylvia Kairouz, a professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and Concordia research chair on gambling, and Martin French, an associate professor in the same department. Together, they approach gambling from a public health and harm-prevention perspective.

Watching how people play

The facility includes several interactive gaming terminals, a wall-sized screen and discreet cameras that capture both in-game activity and players’ social interactions. Researchers can observe behaviour in real time and analyze the data afterward to identify patterns related to risk-taking, immersion and decision-making.

Conference rooms within the space allow researchers and participants to discuss their experiences and reflect on how the technological and social design of gambling environments can influence behaviour.

French adds, “There’s a need to keep up with the fast pace of change in this kind of gambling space.”

Gambling in a digital world

Researchers at CHANCE place gambling within a broader digital context. Many everyday digital experiences — from mobile games to streaming platforms and food delivery apps — are designed to keep users engaged for as long as possible. The team is studying how similar mechanisms in digital gambling environments may encourage prolonged play, increased risk-taking or harmful habits.

According to Kairouz, offline gambling is stable and even decreasing, but the growing popularity of online gambling is concerning.  

“It’s a phenomenon that we’re studying as it is unfolding. We know as a fact that it has tripled since 2018 until now. So we moved from five per cent to almost 15 per cent, 20 per cent of people gambling online. And with that form of gambling comes a lot of high risk situations. So people are alone behind their screens. It’s very quick. It’s very accessible.”

By recreating these environments in a controlled setting, researchers aim to better understand how digital architecture and social dynamics influence behaviour, and how risks can be reduced through prevention and regulation.

“What we observed, and we have been testing this, is that people really get into the game. And we are able to really observe like behaviours of some people that seem to be more interested and impulsive in their games compared to ones that are more conservative, more rational. So even with the artificial set up here, we are able to get the data that we want to get,” added Kairouz.

Independent research

While researchers visited La Zone at the Casino de Montréal during the planning phase to understand contemporary gambling environments, Loto-Québec was not involved in the creation or operation of CHANCE.

“As researchers who study gambling and gambling risk, we’re really interested in trying to make sense of the social dimensions of that experience and how players may become swept up in the collective euphoria of that type of experience,” said French.

The Collaboratory was funded through independent research grants, including support from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Government of Quebec and Concordia University.

Open to policymakers and the public

CHANCE is designed to be accessible not only to researchers, but also to policymakers and other stakeholders. Visitors can experience firsthand how digital gambling environments subtly shape behaviour — insights that may help inform public policy, harm reduction strategies and safer game design.

“We’re putting emotions, we’re putting experiences on top of the recommendations that we are making with the hope that it will make more impact on decision makers and make things change properly,” said Kairouz.

French added, “We are seeing the proliferation of gambling in lots of different ways in our everyday lives, and so we feel like it’s a really important area to keep track of and to think critically about.”

Connecting research to broader issues

The work at CHANCE also contributes to wider conversations about digital consumption and addiction. A related symposium, ‘Numérisation, consommation et addiction,” will take place during the ACFAS Congress on May 8 and 9, exploring how digital tools influence consumption and where the line lies between controlled use and problematic or addictive behaviour.