Luke Clark – gambling psychologist and neuroscientist, UBC
Luke Clark
- Position: Full Professor, Director of the Centre for Gambling Research
- Institution: University of British Columbia (Canada)
- Laboratory: Centre for Gambling Research at UBC (CGR)
- Academic degree: PhD (psychology)
- Country: Canada
About the author
Luke Clark is a Full Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of British Columbia and the founding Director of the Centre for Gambling Research at UBC – one of the few dedicated gambling research centres in the world and the only one of its kind in Canada. With more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, over 28,000 academic citations, and editorial roles at two of the field’s leading international journals, Clark has spent more than two decades building the scientific evidence base that informs how clinicians, regulators, and game designers understand the relationship between gambling products and gambling harm. He writes for this publication as an independent academic contributor, with no commercial arrangements with any operator or platform covered in his reviews.
My reviews are not advertisements. I look at bonus terms and platform design the way I look at research methodology – with scepticism first and approval only after the evidence holds up. If a near-miss mechanic or a wagering structure is engineered to exploit known cognitive distortions, I’ll say so. That’s the deal.
| Parameter | Details |
| Full name | Luke Clark |
| Academic degree | PhD (psychology) |
| Current position | Full Professor / Director, Centre for Gambling Research |
| Institution | University of British Columbia (Canada) |
| Research unit | Centre for Gambling Research at UBC (CGR) |
| Specialisation | Gambling psychology, neuroscience of decision-making, cognitive distortions |
| Publications | 200+ peer-reviewed articles, 28,000+ citations |
| Country | Canada |
Academic background: from Cambridge to UBC
Before joining UBC, Luke Clark was a Senior Lecturer at the University of Cambridge in the UK, where he developed his foundational research programme in the psychology and neuroscience of decision-making and gambling. His transition to Vancouver in 2014 coincided with the establishment of the Centre for Gambling Research at UBC, which was created with funding from the Province of British Columbia government and the British Columbia Lottery Corporation.
| Period | Role | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| Before 2014 | Senior Lecturer | University of Cambridge (UK) |
| 2014-present | Full Professor, Director | UBC (Centre for Gambling Research) |
The Centre has since grown into one of the most productive gambling research environments globally, producing research that spans experimental psychology, cognitive neuroscience, data science, and public health. Clark holds a strong institutional position across Canadian and international research networks. He serves as an Assistant Editor for both Addiction – one of the most prestigious peer-reviewed journals in the substance use and behavioural addiction field – and International Gambling Studies, the primary dedicated academic journal in gambling research.
Research programme: three questions that shape a field
Clark’s research agenda at UBC is organised around three core questions that have defined his work for over a decade.
How do gambling product features relate to harm?
The first and most immediately practical question is structural: how do the specific psychological features designed into gambling products – particularly modern slot machines – contribute to gambling harms? Clark’s work on near-misses is among his most widely cited contributions. A near-miss in slot machine play occurs when two jackpot symbols align but the third falls just short – producing an outcome that looks like almost winning despite being an objective loss. Clark’s research demonstrated that near-misses generate stronger urges to continue gambling than full misses, and that this effect is partly driven by the same neural reward circuitry that responds to actual wins.
His research on cognitive distortions in gambling extends to the illusion of control – the tendency for gamblers to believe they can influence outcomes that are determined entirely by chance – and the gambler’s fallacy, the mistaken belief that random events are influenced by prior outcomes.
What traits create vulnerability to disordered gambling?
The second research thread asks who is most at risk. Clark’s work uses neuroimaging, psychophysiology, and behavioural assessments to understand how biological and psychological individual differences create vulnerability to gambling disorder. This work examines impulsivity, reward sensitivity, and cognitive flexibility as risk factors that interact with gambling product exposure to produce disordered patterns of engagement.
How can online gambling data identify at-risk players?
The third research area is the most directly applicable to the current online gambling landscape in Canada and globally. Clark’s laboratory has used real-world behavioural data from online gambling platforms – specifically the PlayNow.com platform operated in British Columbia – to develop machine learning models that can identify players likely to self-exclude or develop problem gambling behaviours before they’ve reached the point of crisis.
This research area is particularly relevant in Canada’s 2026 gambling landscape, where every AGCO-licensed iGaming Ontario operator must collect player behavioural data and could theoretically deploy predictive tools of the kind Clark’s group has pioneered.
Recognition and awards
In 2015, Luke Clark received the Scientific Achievement Award from the National Center for Responsible Gaming (now the International Center for Responsible Gaming) – a recognition of outstanding research contributions to the science of gambling and gambling harm. This award places him in company with David Hodgins, also a contributor to this publication, who received the same recognition in 2010.
His publication record across more than 200 peer-reviewed papers and 28,000-plus citations reflects sustained academic impact across experimental, clinical, and translational research. ResearchGate lists 312 publications as of 2026.
What I actually write about
My contributions to this publication cover the Canadian online casino market as it stands in 2026, with a focus on:
- Product design and harm – how near-miss mechanics, bonus structures, and loyalty programmes interact with known cognitive distortions
- Bonus structure analysis – breakdown of wagering requirements and what they mean for real player outcomes, not theoretical infinite play
- Licensing and regulatory standing – which jurisdictions offer genuine player protection and which are effectively unregulated shells
- Responsible gambling tools – deposit limits, session timers, self-exclusion options, and whether they’re grounded in the scientific literature on what actually works
- Player vulnerability – how individual differences in impulsivity and reward sensitivity shape risk
What I don’t do is write puff pieces. When I review a platform’s responsible gambling infrastructure, I assess it against the scientific literature on what effective player protection looks like in practice rather than against the platform’s own descriptions of its features.
The Canadian online casino market in 2026
Canada’s relationship with online gambling in 2026 remains genuinely complicated. Ontario operates a regulated iGaming market under AGCO and iGaming Ontario, while players in other provinces typically access offshore-licensed platforms. This creates a regulatory landscape that varies significantly depending on where a player is located.
What has changed in 2026 is the level of player sophistication. The cohort of Canadian players I see researching casinos now is more likely to check independent review platforms, ask about withdrawal times, and compare bonus terms side-by-side than players five years ago. That’s a good thing, and it’s part of why informed writing about this market actually matters.
| Licence jurisdiction | Regulatory body | Common quality signal |
|---|---|---|
| Ontario | AGCO / iGaming Ontario | High – strong player protections |
| Malta | Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) | High – strong player protections |
| Curaçao | Curaçao Gaming Control Board | Moderate – reformed from 2023 |
| Kahnawake | Kahnawake Gaming Commission | Moderate |
| Costa Rica | Business registration only | Low – not a gambling regulator |
My review methodology
Every platform I review is assessed against the scientific literature on player protection and harm, not against marketing claims. I examine bonus terms for the cognitive distortions they may exploit, I assess responsible gambling tools for genuine accessibility and effectiveness, and I situate licensing claims within the broader regulatory picture rather than taking them at face value.
The things I check every time:
- Bonus structure: advertised value vs actual playable value after wagering and caps
- Product design: near-miss mechanics, loss-disguised-as-wins, and other known harm-adjacent features
- Licensing: which jurisdiction, and what that jurisdiction actually enforces
- Responsible gambling features: availability, accessibility, and grounding in the research literature
- Withdrawal and complaint record: whether the platform delivers on what it advertises
Contact and further reading
Luke Clark can be reached at [email protected]. His full publication list and current research programme are documented at the Centre for Gambling Research at UBC: cgr.psych.ubc.ca. His ResearchGate profile at researchgate.net/profile/Luke-Clark-2 provides access to preprints and publication records across his full career. He is active on social media as @LukeClark01 on X (formerly Twitter), with the CGR lab also maintaining an institutional presence at @CGR_UBC.
Luke Clark is a Full Professor in the Department of Psychology and Director of the Centre for Gambling Research at UBC. He writes for this publication as an independent academic contributor. ConnexOntario: 1-866-531-2600.
