Group unveils new plan to curb problem gambling

By Liz Benston (contact)

Wednesday, Aug. 7, 2002 | 10:56 a.m.

For years, customers at major Nevada casinos have seen messages about how to receive help with gambling addictions, while employees have received training on how to spot and treat problem gamblers.

Such information is harder to find off casino floors and outside the offices of major casino companies.

That will soon change under a plan from the state's primary counseling group for addicted gamblers. The Nevada Council on Problem Gambling, with help from the industry's chief lobbying association for Nevada casinos, the Nevada Resort Association, Tuesday unveiled an initiative to spread messages about responsible gambling among eight of the state's largest non-casino employers.

The initiative is likely the first nationwide to circulate materials on problem gambling to tens of thousands of employees who don't work in casinos.

"For some, gambling is a problem," Nevada Resort Association Chairman and Park Place Entertainment Corp. President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas Gallagher said at an event to announce the effort. "It's a problem we as an industry must address."

In the next several months, the council will distribute information on problem gambling to employees of the City of Las Vegas, Clark County, Clark County School District, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Sprint, Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, Nellis Air Force Base and Wells Fargo Bank. The council also will create customized programs for employers similar to those now used to train casino workers, messages organizers say could reach a potential audience of about 55,000 people.

The council also will examine how companies can implement health benefit packages that include problem gambling treatment, as are offered in some casinos.

The effort isn't prompted by criticism of the gambling industry or by any particular event, said Carol O'Hare, executive director of the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling.

"Our focus has always been on public awareness," she said. "We're using the model set up by the industry by offering employer-driven programs" outside casinos.

Gambling, and therefore problem gambling, is part of the state's social fabric, employers say.

The threat of gambling addiction could have a "major impact" on companies such as Wells Fargo, with more than 2,100 employees in Nevada, said Jay Kornmayer, an executive vice president of the bank and a lender to the casino industry.

The company aims to establish an environment of teamwork and camaraderie among employees and considers its health program a "cornerstone" of the company's benefits package, Kornmayer said. Avoiding the issue of problem gambling means "we probably aren't doing the best job as managers of our company or as corporate citizens."

Employees who come to Nevada to work for the county have come from other areas where gambling is allowed, Clark County School District Deputy Superintendent Augie Orci said. Nevada, as the nation's gambling capital, must take care of its workers and offer an example to other states as well, he said.

Both Wells Fargo and the Clark County School District will send e-mails to thousands of employees telling them where they can get help with gambling problems.

Critics of industry-sponsored problem gambling programs have belittled such efforts as feel-good attempts that offer little proof that they can reform gamblers.

Tuesday, casino industry critic Tom Grey blasted the initiative as "several decades late and millions of dollars short."

New industry-driven problem gambling efforts come as an "embarrassment" after the state Legislature failed to pass an initiative last year that would have launched the state's first effort to fund treatment for addicted gamblers, said Grey, of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling.

Pamphlets and training also are ineffective compared to more drastic reforms such as stemming the extension of credit to big spenders and the use of ATMs in casinos, he added.

The industry maintains gambling is an entertaining and harmless activity for the vast majority of people who frequent casinos. People have a personal responsibility to gamble responsibly, yet casinos have a responsibility to offer information so people can get help if they need it, they say.

Statistics differ on the number of people who have gambling problems. A widely quoted study by Harvard Medical School expert Howard Schaffer has estimated about 1 percent of the population has a gambling addiction. Others cite higher percentages that take into account less-severe gambling habits. Nevada's first comprehensive study on the issue, authorized by the Legislature in 1998, revealed in March that as many as 6.4 percent of residents are likely pathological gamblers.

Nevada Resort Association President Bill Bible said Tuesday the group will support legislation expected next year that would re-introduce the subject of government-funded treatment for addicted gamblers. Other states that allow gambling already offer such treatment.

O'Hare says the council's latest effort furthers an ongoing education process that is making a difference.

"This is a fairly young field of mental health," she said. Experts are still determining effective treatment methods and how to offer services that can reach out to the broadest number of people. Through the years, counselors have learned gambling can be tied to other addictive behavior or spring from a variety of family problems, she said.

Last year more than 70 percent of the 2,500-plus callers to the council's problem gambling hotline said they received the phone number from a brochure, poster or other material in a casino or work environment, she added.

Separately, major Las Vegas casinos are initiating their own education efforts on problem gambling. The education and promotion campaigns are year-round but will be beefed up this week to coincide with Responsible Gaming Education Week. The event is sponsored by the American Gaming Association, the casino industry's nationwide lobbying arm. Initiatives include:

The American Gaming Association has a quiz on its website to test industry and public awareness of gambling disorders.