Alex M. T. Russell — researcher, analyst, and iGaming writer at A Big Candy Casino
Associate Professor at CQUniversity
Expert in gambling behaviour and online casino research | Australia
About the author
My name is Alex M. T. Russell. I’ve spent the better part of two decades studying how people interact with gambling products — slots, live tables, sports betting apps, you name it. I hold a PhD in psychology from the University of Sydney, and for the past several years I’ve worked as an Associate Professor and Principal Research Fellow at CQUniversity’s Experimental Gambling Research Laboratory (EGRL) in Australia. That background shapes everything I write here at A Big Candy Casino: I don’t just describe what a casino offers, I look at how it actually behaves toward the player.
I started contributing to iGaming publications because I noticed a gap. Academic research on gambling tends to sit behind paywalls and get written for other academics. Meanwhile, Australians looking for honest information about where to spend their A$ are reading content that was produced in bulk, often by people who’ve never opened a single research paper on RTP variance or session-length nudges. That bothered me. So I started writing for general audiences — keeping the rigour, dropping the jargon.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Alex M. T. Russell |
| Academic degree | PhD (Psychology) |
| Position | Associate Professor / Principal Research Fellow |
| Institution | CQUniversity (Australia) |
| Laboratory | Experimental Gambling Research Laboratory (EGRL) |
| Research focus | Gambling behaviour, iGaming, responsible gambling |
| Country | Australia |
| Publications | 150+ peer-reviewed works |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3685-7220 |
Education
Everything I write is grounded in a formal academic background. I studied psychology at the University of Sydney from undergraduate level through to doctoral research, which gave me a solid grounding in experimental design, statistics, and behavioural theory. Gambling wasn’t my original focus — I came to it from a broader interest in decision-making under uncertainty, which turned out to be a near-perfect match.
| Qualification | Institution |
|---|---|
| BSc (Psychology) | University of Sydney |
| Graduate Diploma in Psychology (with merit) | University of Sydney |
| PhD (Psychology) | University of Sydney |
That interdisciplinary starting point matters. A lot of gambling research gets siloed within one discipline — economics, public health, or sociology. Coming from experimental psychology gave me a different lens: I’m interested in the cognitive and emotional mechanics of how a session unfolds for a real person sitting at their laptop at 11pm in Brisbane.
Career timeline
After finishing my doctorate, I worked across several Australian institutions before landing at CQUniversity, where I’ve been based since 2016. The EGRL is one of the few dedicated gambling research labs in the Southern Hemisphere, and working there has meant direct exposure to policy consultations, industry submissions, and large-scale population studies — not just lab experiments.
| Period | Role | Institution |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-2014 | Lecturer and researcher | Southern Cross University |
| 2014–2016 | Postdoctoral Fellow | Centre for Gambling Education and Research |
| 2016–present | Principal Research Fellow / Associate Professor | CQUniversity (EGRL) |
I also teach research methods and statistics at postgraduate level, which I think keeps me honest. When you’re explaining p-values and effect sizes to sceptical master’s students every semester, you develop a low tolerance for vague claims and cherry-picked data — a habit that carries over directly into how I evaluate casino platforms.
What I cover at A Big Candy Casino
Writing for A Big Candy Casino lets me translate academic findings into something genuinely useful for Australian players. The topics I focus on fall into a few clear categories:
Casino reviews and platform analysis
- Licence verification and regulatory standing
- Withdrawal speed and processing reliability (in A$)
- RTP figures and how they’re presented to players
- Bonus wagering requirements — the fine print that actually matters
- Mobile performance and session design
Game mechanics and player experience
- How slot volatility affects session length and bankroll
- Live dealer table formats and their house edge differences
- Feature triggers and whether “bonus buy” options are worth the cost
Responsible gambling
- Harm-minimisation tools and how effectively platforms implement them
- Deposit and session limits — are they genuinely accessible or buried in menus?
- Self-exclusion processes under Australian frameworks
Regulation and industry context
- How the Interactive Gambling Act 2001 applies to offshore operators
- What licensing from Curaçao, Malta (MGA), or Kahnawake actually means in practice
My review methodology
I don’t score casinos based on which ones have the flashiest welcome offer. A big A$3,000 match bonus means very little if the wagering requirement is 60x and withdrawals take two weeks. Here’s how I actually assess a platform:
- Licence check — I verify the licence number directly with the issuing authority, not just take the casino’s word for it.
- Terms and conditions audit — bonus terms, withdrawal caps, account verification requirements.
- Deposit and withdrawal test — I assess minimum and maximum limits, supported AUD payment methods, and typical processing times.
- Game library audit — I check provider names, confirm RTP figures where published, and look at whether game categories reflect actual player needs.
- Support test — live chat responsiveness, quality of answers, availability hours.
- Responsible gambling tools — whether they exist, how quickly they can be activated, and whether they’re reversible immediately or subject to a cooling-off period.
I flag clearly when a casino has something that concerns me — slow withdrawals, vague bonus terms, or a responsible gambling page that’s essentially decorative. I’d rather a reader skip a dodgy platform than sign up based on a glowing review that ignored the red flags.
Selected research and publications
Over the course of my career I’ve contributed to more than 150 academic publications. A selection of the areas most directly relevant to what I write about here:
| Year | Research area | Publisher / funder |
|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Social casinos and pathways to gambling | Computers in Human Behavior |
| 2018 | Problem gambling and digital platform design | Psychology of Addictive Behaviors |
| 2020 | Loot boxes and gambling-adjacent mechanics | Gambling Research Australia |
| 2021 | Sports betting advertising on social media | Victorian Responsible Gambling Foundation |
| 2023 | Gambling harm in NSW population samples | NSW Responsible Gambling Fund |
| 2024 | Mobile gambling and in-session behaviour | CQUniversity / EGRL internal report |
These studies aren’t cited as decoration — they directly inform how I think about the features I describe. When I call a bonus structure “high friction,” that framing comes from understanding what the research says about how players process reward delays and loss sequences.
A note on independence
I want to be transparent about something: A Big Candy Casino is the platform this page appears on, but that doesn’t mean every review I write here is a recommendation. My goal is to give Australian players accurate information so they can decide for themselves. Some casinos I assess here will get a straightforward positive recommendation. Others will get a conditional one — good in some areas, weak in others. A few won’t get a recommendation at all. That’s how it should be, and it’s the only way this kind of writing has any value.
