GREENVILLE, Pitt County — 2.5 million adults meet the criteria for a severe gambling problem in a given year. That’s according to the National Council on Problem Gambling.

The North Carolina Education Lottery started selling tickets in 2006 and sports betting became legal in our state in March of this year. Now, a new program focuses on addiction.

Gambling addiction, gambling-motivated crime, and suicidal ideation are just a few of the potential negative impacts of gambling. Here at ECU’s Brewster Hall, a new program is working to broaden the research on gambling addiction.

The Gambling Research and Policy Initiative Mission, or GRPI, had their ribbon cutting today at ECU. The new space will be dedicated to what the director of the program says is the under-researched topic of gambling addiction.

Dr. Michelle L. Malkin is also an assistant professor of criminal justice and criminology at ECU.

We need people to be curious about gambling the way they are about substance use and other addictions. People just don’t know what the problems are and so we need a lot more media, a lot more campaigns, we need a lot more outreach, we need a lot more educations.

Dr. Malkin says she hopes this program will be just that. She is passionate about her research and says that this work will save lives.

Dr. Malkin says this research has the potential to help so many people and looks forward to getting to work.