Panelists looking at gambling addiction say solutions create their own problems

Thursday, Oct. 19, 2000 | 11:17 a.m.

Help line

The National Council on Problem Gambling has a toll-free, confidential phone number for persons who believe they have a compulsive gambling problem. The number is (800) 522-4700.

The way Arnie Wexler sees it, the casino industry's efforts to help problem gamblers is as credible as Congress establishing its own ethics policy.

"It makes no sense at all," said Wexler, a Bradley Beach, N.J., consultant who offers evaluations, training and treatment for gambling addicts. "It's like a fox watching the chicken coop."

Still, Wexler, of Arnie & Sheila Wexler Associates, was pleased with the turnout at a town hall meeting he conducted, "Responsible Gaming Policies and Programs," at the World Gaming Conference and Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center Wednesday.

He was encouraged by representatives of the gaming industry wanting to look seriously at gambling addictions.

Wexler and seven panelists fielded questions in an hour-long Q&A that prodded the industry about sensitive compulsive gambling issues without alienating the host and the audience.

Panelists concluded that the industry should provide more money for solving problem gambling issues, specifically by paying more for awareness programs, the training of casino workers to identify problem gamblers and, ultimately, the treatment of people with compulsive gambling behavior. But panelists also admitted those solutions are fraught with their own problems.

Panelist Dan Heneghan, public information officer for the Casino Control Commission of New Jersey, said his state devotes $600,000 a year to problem gambling awareness. Most of it, he said, is spent on signs placed in Atlantic City and its casinos and on other public information programs.

But panelist Andy Asselin, general manager of the Viejas Casino and Turf Club in Southern California, said it's time for money to be spent on more than signs and producing public service announcements for television.

Asselin and Heneghan suggested resources could be devoted to research by behavioral scientists looking for the causes of gambling addiction. Treatment and research are important, panelists said, because problem gambling is only going to get bigger.

Panelist Roger Wagner, president and chief executive officer of Trump Castle, Atlantic City, said the Internet is fueling greater interest in gambling, through the marketing of legal properties and through proliferating Internet casinos that operate from countries where gambling online is legal.

While casinos are doing more to publicize problem gambling hot-lines -- in Nevada, they're required to by statute -- there's a growing debate about how much the businesses have to do. Casinos have different policies about what to do when a suspected problem gambler is spotted. Some bar those patrons from their casinos; others have a harder time determining whether to cut off a high-rolling regular customer.

"One thing you don't want is 1,500 junior psychologists running around tapping people on the shoulder and trying to determine if a customer has a gambling addiction," said panelist Elizabeth George, chief executive officer of the North American Training Institute.

Still another problem in the area of treatment is how to pay for it. Panelist Sheila Wexler said most insurance companies don't recognize compulsive gambling as a treatable illness.

But Arnie Wexler said it's time for the industry to get serious about the issue or it could lead to financial disaster.

"I see the casino industry as where the tobacco industry was five years ago," he said in reference to suits filed against the industry by cancer patients who accused tobacco companies of attempting to hide the cause of their illnesses.

"I know there are a lot of companies that are only involved so that they can protect themselves if they get sued," he said. "But it's time for everybody to pay more attention to the problem."

In Las Vegas, it's the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling that is paying attention.

The nonprofit organization is voluntarily funded, mostly by the gaming industry through corporate memberships and sponsorships.

The four-person administrative staff conducts training programs and helps Nevada gaming license holders by providing brochures and pamphlets for patrons.

Carol O'Hare is the executive director of the organization, which has an annual budget of $385,000 and receives an average 400 to 600 calls a month and forwards another 100 to 150 a month to a 24-hour confidential problem gambling help line operated by the National Council on Problem Gambling.

She said the organization's goal is to link problem gamblers to appropriate available treatment and educating industry professionals about the warning signs of compulsive gambling.