Casinos join forum on responsible gambling

John Wilen

Friday, July 31, 1998 | 10:53 a.m.

The Las Vegas gaming industry plans to participate in next week's first-ever Responsible Gaming Education Week, and responsible gaming advocates say it's about time.

"I think it's incredible progress, that the American Gaming Association is making that kind of an effort to get the whole industry focused on that issue," said Carol O'Hare, executive director of the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling. "It's a long way from a couple years ago when we could only get a couple of companies to even talk about it."

The issue of problem gambling is drawing increased attention these days, especially with the National Gaming Impact Study Commission holding hearings around the country looking into the effect of legalized gambling on society. Many gaming industry observers believe the industry is scrambling to come up with its own approach to dealing with problem gambling to stave off potential legislation and litigation like the tobacco industry is enduring.

Responsible Gaming Education Week is sponsored by the American Gaming Association. This will be the first time the AGA has devoted an entire week to the issue of responsible gambling, and if the comments of several casino officials are any guide, it will not be the last.

"We're taking part in it at all our properties," said Sarah Ralston, a Circus Circus spokeswoman, "and at the same time over a longer period of time developing more of a long-term view on the issue that will involve our properties not for just one week but will be an ongoing effort."

Ralston, Lynn Holt, a spokesman for MGM Grand; and Phil Cooper, a spokesman for Caesars Palace; all said their casinos would use the week to start employee education programs they've long planned.

"This was always our plan," Cooper said. "It was just a matter of implementing the proposals."

Circus Circus will begin including information about problem gambling in employee paychecks, will improve information provided in employee manuals, and will redesign the signs it places in employee work areas, Ralston said. The company also plans to standardize the signs it places on its casino floors, she said.

"On the Las Vegas Strip right now, we don't have visible signage on the casino floor," Ralston said. "That is an issue that we as a company are looking at as we speak."

The focus of all these steps, from paycheck stuffers to casino floor signs, is to tell people with compulsive gambling problems where they can go for help.

"The goal is to give people now across the country ... as much information as is available to us today," Ralston said.

The MGM Grand will hold employee education and orientation sessions next week designed to let employees know that compulsive gambling is a problem, and to let them know how they or casino customers can get help, said Holt.

"The training courses are the things I think we'll highlight next week," Holt said.

Caesars also plans ramped-up employee training sessions, as well as new posters and pamphlets. But the company plans a customer-education campaign as well.

"We've begun a campaign to alert our guests and our employees of unattended children," Cooper said.

That campaign will be conducted via posters and pamphlets, he said.

In Laughlin, the Nevada and Arizona Councils of Problem Gambling will hold a joint seminar on responsible gaming. And Harrah's Entertainment plans a contest for its 30,000 U.S. employees to develop a slogan that will be used to promote responsible gambling throughout the country.

For its part the AGA is distributing 230,000 educational brochures to its members, and to members of Congress. Responsible Gaming Education Week is just the latest attempt to raise awareness of problem gambling, said Judy Patterson, senior vice president and executive director of the AGA.

"We've done a host of things to try to raise awareness among our members," Patterson said.

The AGA has held a number of conferences on responsible gaming, and last October held its first responsible gaming certification course, teaching trainers how to educate gaming employees about the issue.

Responsible gambling advocates say the measures are a good first step.

"We are very pleased with the concept and hope that this is an ongoing thing," said Ed Looney, executive director of the New Jersey Council on Problem Gambling. "It's a first step in terms of getting people involved."

But in the future, advocates would like to see the industry go even farther.

"Training employees how to intercede (when they see a compulsive gambler) would be another step," Looney said.

Yet advocates are reluctant to criticize the industry. Without naming names, Looney noted that some gaming companies are more committed to promoting responsible gambling than others.

"Nobody's resisting, they'll just give you some lip service," Looney said. "The key is to not give it lip service and to implement it."

Harrah's, Boyd Gaming, Caesars and the New Jersey Trump Casinos get highest marks from Looney for their efforts to promote responsible gambling. Still, Looney doesn't want to push the industry too hard.

"Right now, we're just trying to do little by little," he said. "The bottom line is, any way you can to get employees to think a little more about their customers that are being affected ... is a very good thing."

And there are indications already that some of the industry's steps are working. Calls to the New Jersey Council's compulsive gambling hotline from casino employees have increased from 2 percent last year to 3.5 percent this year, Looney said.

And an increasing number of callers to the Nevada Council's hotline say they got the number from a casino, O'Hare said.

"When we get calls to our help line it is getting more common for the callers to tell us they got the number from a pamphlet or sign they saw in a casino," O'Hare said. After all, she added, "the most probable place a problem gambler is going to receive this information is in a casino."