Harvard’s Gambling Institute Not Playing Fair, Critics Say

The division of Harvard Medical School that studies pathological gambling is under fire from some antigambling activists who point out that almost all its funding comes from the gambling industry.

The Institute for Research on Pathological Gambling and Related Disorders, founded four years ago, has received nearly $5 million in industry money.

Gambling opponents said the institute’s research has been used by gambling industry lobbyists trying to persuade state lawmakers to approve new gambling venues and to counter charges that gambling was widely addictive and causes other social problems.

“They point to the Harvard research all the time,” said the Rev. Tom Grey, a Methodist minister who heads the nonprofit National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling. “It’s a good investment. They’re getting Harvard cheap at this point.”

Critics said the arrangement left the institute vulnerable to subtle pressure from its funding source, the Boston Globe reported.

Harvard officials and gambling industry representatives said the institute’s scientists were under no pressure and that the research might lead to treatments for gambling addictions.

Dr. Howard J. Shaffer, the institute’s director, said its work was unbiased and its research was reviewed by independent scientists before publication.

Harvard Medical School’s administration has reviewed the arrangement between the industry and the institute twice in the last four years and found no evidence of biased research, spokesman Don Gibbons said.

Shaffer said he had no control over how the Harvard-funded research is used.