Industry events mark responsible gambling week

David Strow

Monday, Aug. 6, 2001 | 11:04 a.m.

Responsible Gaming Education Week, the casino industry's annual look at the issue of problem gambling, gets under way this week.

In addition to traditional functions, such as employee discussions and newsletter articles, this year's activities include the promotion of a new educational program designed by the Harvard Medical School's Division on Addictions. The program, called "Understanding the Odds," is an effort to use the rules of probability to reduce underage problem gambling.

The program doesn't directly discourage gambling among children, but instead hopes to dispel some of the myths surrounding luck and gambling that many children and adults have.

"It's almost a back-door approach to give (children) a basis in reality for what gambling is all about," said Carol O'Hare, executive director for the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling. "They are risk-takers, and kids more than anybody will be attracted to the magic around gambling. While it can be a lot of fun, they do need to understand ... there's a mathematical principle that determines outcomes. It isn't all luck, superstition and magic."

The curriculum, designed to fit into the statistics and probability courses taught in middle school, is already required in Louisiana. On Wednesday, a panel will discuss implementing the program in Nevada's schools.

The panel discussion, sponsored by Boyd Gaming Corp. and MGM MIRAGE, will be held at Sam's Town hotel-casino at 10 a.m., and will include Agustin Orci, assistant superintendent for the Clark County School District. Other participants include Boyd President Don Snyder, O'Hare, and Punam Mathur, vice president of community affairs for MGM MIRAGE.

"We've had conversations (with the school district), and they're certainly enthusiastic about looking at this curriculum," O'Hare said.

A video addressing probability, education and "responsible marketing of gaming entertainment" is being distributed to casinos across the country by the American Gaming Association. Many casinos in Nevada plan to show the video to employees this week, and it will also be aired Clark County Public Access throughout the week.

AGA members are being encouraged to display posters and distribute brochures this week aimed at educating employees and customers about problem gambling. Other companies are going further: Harrah's Entertainment Inc. of Las Vegas, for example, is distributing $2,500 to each of its 25 casinos for use in individual problem gambling education programs.

Station Casinos Inc. and Park Place Entertainment Corp., both of Las Vegas, meanwhile, are combining the week with efforts to stem underage gambling. Park Place's Paris Las Vegas and Bally's, for example, will distribute quizzes to employees asking them to identify which people pictured are under 21. And the Las Vegas Hilton's daily briefings of security employees will emphasize the issues of problem gambling and underage gambling.

Station, meanwhile, will discuss the issues of proper identification procedures and unattended children in sessions with employees this week. The company also plans to go over the probabilities curriculum with employees.

This will be the fourth year the casino industry has observed a week devoted to educating employees about problem gambling. But does it make a difference?

"We'd be naive to think focusing on it one week a year produced any maximum benefit," O'Hare said. "The goal of the week is the bring the focus back to what we know needs to be occurring all year long."