Matthew Rockloff – casino analyst and gambling researcher

My name is Matthew Rockloff, and I have spent the better part of three decades studying the way people gamble – not as an abstract exercise, but as a working psychologist and researcher who genuinely wanted to understand what happens inside the mind when someone sits down at a pokie machine, places a sports bet, or walks through the doors of a casino for the first time. That question has driven my entire career, from a psychology doctorate in Florida to heading one of Australia’s most active gambling research laboratories at Central Queensland University in Rockhampton.

I write for Waboom77 Casino in 2026 because I believe that informed players make better decisions, and better decisions mean more enjoyable experiences. My work is grounded in real data, field research, and more than two decades of published academic work. When I review a casino or explain how a game mechanic works, I am drawing on the same analytical framework I use in peer-reviewed research – just in language that does not require a university library card to follow.

Education and Academic Background

My academic path started in economics before it shifted into psychology, and that combination still shapes how I look at gambling platforms today. I hold a Master of Science in Economics from Texas A&M University and a PhD in Psychology from Florida Atlantic University, which I completed in 1999.

Career at Central Queensland University

I joined Central Queensland University and eventually became head of the Experimental Gambling Research Laboratory, known as EGRL. The lab runs population-level studies, field experiments, and survey research focused on gambling behaviour, gambling harm, and the psychological mechanisms that drive both.

Over the course of my career at CQU, I have been named in the Top 15 UniJobs Lecturer of the Year Awards multiple times (2011-2014), ranking sixth nationally. My research areas at EGRL include:

• Problem gambling and psychological risk factors;
• The role of excitement, arousal, and emotional states;
• Online gambling behaviour and its differences from venue-based play;
• The effects of gambling advertising on vulnerable groups;
• Harm minimisation measures and their real-world effectiveness.

The Crocodile Study and the Ig Nobel Prize

In 2017, I received an Ig Nobel Prize in Economics for research that first makes people laugh, then makes them think. The study involved asking participants to hold a live crocodile before playing pokies to test whether physical arousal from an unrelated source would translate into riskier gambling behaviour. It did. The finding confirmed my hypothesis around the four psychological factors that raise the risk of problem gambling: excitement, esteem, excess, and escape.

Research Influence on Australian Gambling Policy

One part of my career I find genuinely meaningful is the way EGRL research has shaped actual law and regulation in Australia. Policy outcomes influenced by our research include:

• Bans on wagering advertising during general television viewing hours;
• Restrictions on promotions and inducements offered to sports bettors;
• Mandatory limit-setting tools for online gambling platforms;
• The creation of the Australian National Self-Exclusion Register for pokies.

Why I Write About Online Casinos

Players reading casino reviews deserve analysis from someone who understands the mechanics, the psychology, and the regulatory context. When I assess a platform like Waboom77 Casino, I look at specific factors:

A Note on How I Approach Casino Content

Everything I write for Waboom77 Casino is produced with the same standards I apply to academic work: accuracy, evidence, and clarity. I do not use vague language. If a withdrawal process has a delay or a bonus term is inconvenient, I say so. My goal is to give you a clear-eyed assessment that helps you decide if a platform suits your style of play.