Experimental Gambling Research Laboratory
The mission of the Experimental Gambling Research Laboratory (EGRL) is to support understanding of games of chance, through experiment, simulation, and observation.
If you would like to join our research panel (LEWIS) and take part in our research, please go to the Leisure and Wellbeing Study (LEWIS) website, and sign up to the panel.
Professor Matthew Rockloff, Head
Professor Matthew Rockloff received a PhD in psychology from Florida Atlantic University in 1999. Dr Rockloff has been honoured as a Jack Walker Scholar and twice as an Aurel B. Newell Fellow. Dr Rockloff was named in the Top 15 Unijobs Lecturer of the Year Awards in 2011, 2012 and 2013, and received the 2017 Ig Nobel award in Economics for research exploring how contact with live crocodiles influences people’s willingness to gamble.
Professor Rockloff’s research interests include: psychological risk-factors for problem gambling; gambling harm; utility of gambling enjoyment and structural characteristics of electronic gaming machines (EGMs or pokies).
Professor Nerilee Hing, Research Professor, Gambling Studies
Professor Nerilee Hing has a PhD (Gambling Studies) from the University of Western Sydney. She was Founding Director of the Centre for Gambling Education and Research at Southern Cross University (2003-2016) before commencing as a Research Professor (Gambling Studies) at CQUniversity.
Professor Hing’s research interests include: responsible gambling; problem gambling; gambling amongst vulnerable populations; online gambling; sports betting and race betting; gambling advertising; problem gambling stigma; and help-seeking for gambling problems.
Professor Matthew Browne, Professor, Psychology
Professor Matthew Browne completed a PhD in psychophysiology methodology in 2002, publishing several novel methods for the analysis of EEG recordings.
He has since held continuing posts in major international research organisations including CSIRO and the Fraunhofer Gesslschaft (Institute for Autonomous Systems).
His main interests lie in the application of statistical and machine learnings methodologies across several disciplines (but especially social science and psychology).
He acts as a consulting statistician across the school, contributing to a number of projects across the fields of health and social sciences. He also has an active research program in gambling-related harm, addiction, and delusional beliefs.
Associate Professor Alex Russell, Principal Research Fellow
Associate Professor Alex Russell completed his PhD in Psychology at the University of Sydney in 2014. He has worked in gambling research since 2011, starting at the Centre for Gambling Education and Research at Southern Cross University. In 2016, he moved to the Experimental Gambling Research Laboratory at CQUniversity as a Senior Postdoctoral Fellow. He has received numerous publication awards. In 2019 he was recognised with a Dean's Award and a Vice-Chancellor's Award, both for Outstanding Research (Early Career), and was one of the 2019 ABC Top 5 Emerging Scientists. In 2020 he was recognised as a NSW Young Tall Poppy, and as a STEM Ambassador for Science and Technology Australia.
AProf Russell’s research interests focus on gambling behaviour, including: social influences; sports betting; impulse betting; wagering advertising, promotions and inducements; the emergence of new technologies including Internet gambling, social media, social casino games and emerging forms of gambling; responsible gambling behaviours; gambling-related stigma; innovative research methodologies and statistics. He is also interested in: taste and smell perception, particularly wine perception; wine expertise and odour-colour synaesthesia.
Dr Hannah Brojkovich (Thorne)
Dr Hannah Brajkovich (née Thorne) completed her honours in psychology at the University of Otago in 2005 and her PhD in 2022. In addition to her PhD work, she has assisted with various EGRL projects, including examining the impact of sports betting advertising on youth, the gambling environment preferences of recreational versus problem gamblers, and how gambling can harm the community.
Hannah's PhD examined the relationship between sleep, alcohol and gambling. In 2018, she represented CQUniversity at the Asia Pacific Three Minute Thesis (3MT) finals, presenting her PhD findings.
Dr En Li, Senior Lecturer, Marketing
Dr En Li completed his PhD at the University of Sydney in 2011. He has been honoured with the Beta Gamma Sigma lifetime membership as well as the World Business Institute fellowship, and has received best/excellent paper awards twice. He was also a Top 15 Unijobs Lecturer of the Year in Australia in 2013.
Dr Li’s primary research interests include: gambling and addictive behaviours; marketing persuasion; affect and emotion; attention and perception; and ethnicity.
Dr Lisa Lole, Lecturer, Psychology
Dr Lisa Lole completed her PhD at the University of Wollongong in 2014, studying the psychophysiological basis of reward and punishment sensitivity in problem gambling. She is currently a lecturer in research methods and statistics in the psychology field of the School of Health, Medical and Applied Sciences at CQUniversity.
Dr Lole’s primary research interest is in the psychology and psychophysiology of gambling behaviours. She is also interested in the field of addiction more generally, as well as how various forms of addiction impact the development of young people and an individual's physical and mental health.
Catherine Tulloch completed her PhD in 2023 and her Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours) First Class in 2019. Her PhD examined the impacts of gambling-related harms on the well-being of people close to those who experience that harm. In addition to her PhD studies, she has assisted with various EGRL projects, including examining limit-setting for online wagering, identifying safe gambling practices for EGM players, exploring the prevalence of problem gambling, reviewing the measuring of gambling-related harm, breaks in play and transitions into and out of gambling-related harm.
Vijay Rawat, Research Worker
Vijay obtained his Bachelor of Psychological Studies (Honours) at Victoria University in 2013. His thesis examined sleep disturbances and psychological distress among Australian paramedics. Vijay has been involved in a wide range of research projects in the social sciences field, including several gambling-related projects.
He has received numerous awards for his work, including from the Australian Psychological Society, the National Association for Gambling Studies (AU), and the National Centre for Responsible Gaming (US). His research interests include homelessness and animal-assisted therapy.
Nancy Greer, PhD student
Nancy Greer completed her Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours) at the University of Queensland in 2004. In addition to her PhD studies, she has assisted with various EGRL projects, including research on gambling and domestic violence against women, the effects of wagering and marketing on vulnerable adults, the social cost of gambling, gambling-related harms, mobile pokie apps impact on gambling behaviour, innovations in traditional gambling products, and social facilitation and gambling. Prior to Nancy’s work at CQUniversity, she was involved in large-scale research projects on homelessness, drugs and alcohol, and separated families.
She has won awards, including an Australian Postgraduate Award (APA) Scholarship, NAGS 2017 Student Conference Scholarship, and an Ig Nobel Prize in Economics for research exploring how contact with live crocodiles influences people’s willingness to gamble.
Nancy’s PhD examines eSports betting and skin gambling.
Brenton Williams, PhD student
Brenton Williams completed his Bachelor of Psychological Science (Honours) at Central Queensland University in 2017.
Brenton's PhD examines the psychological characteristics associated with both gambling fallacies and gambling outcomes expectancies.
Leisure and wellbeing study (LEWIS)
The Leisure and Wellbeing Study (LEWiS) aims to advance the science around leisure activities, including gambling and drinking, and how they relate to well-being. Specifically, the aim of the study is to develop a deep understanding of leisure activities – not just behaviour, but also attitudes towards these activities and motivations for engaging in them – and which of these factors decrease well-being.
Learn more about LEWIS.
