Gaming briefs for Nov. 24, 2003

Monday, Nov. 24, 2003 | 11:02 a.m.

Resort to offer KOA franchise

Kampgrounds of America Inc. has signed a 10-year lease to operate the Circusland RV park adjacent to the Circus Circus Las Vegas hotel-casino.

The RV park Las will operate under the management of KOA as the Las Vegas KOA at Circus Circus starting December 1.

The Circus Circus site will mark one of the largest camping facilities for Billings, Mont.-based KOA, which operates more than 500 campgrounds in North America and Japan.

"Circus Circus has been entertaining family travelers for 35 years while KOA has been the top family campground for over 40 years," Circus Circus Las Vegas Vice President and General Manager Don Thrasher said. "This is a real natural fit for both of us."

The Circus Circus campground features 400 full hook-up sites, a swimming pool, convenience store, video arcade, playground, pool tables and a meeting room. It also features a climate-controlled moving sidewalk to speed campers from the parking lot to the casino.

Organization honors scientists

The National Center for Responsible Gaming has named three recipients of its second annual Scientific Achievement Awards.

They include Robert Ladouceur of the Universite Laval in Quebec, Marc Potenza of Yale University and Renee Cunningham-Williams of Washington University's School of Medicine.

Ladouceur, a professor of psychology, has revealed how the gambler's erroneous perceptions of chance and randomness can set the stage for the development of gambling problems. His studies have indicated that cognitive therapy is a promising treatment approach, NCRG representatives said.

Potenza, founder of the Problem Gambling Clinic at Yale, receives the Young Investigator Award as one of the first researchers to publish brain imaging studies of individuals with gambling problems.

Cunningham-Williams, an assistant professor of social work in psychiatry, received an honorable mention in the Young Investigator category for her work on other disorders that co-exist with gambling problems and the development of assessments to diagnose the condition.

The NCRG was established in 1996 by the casino industry and funds the Institute for Research on Pathological Gambling and Related Disorders at Harvard Medical School, a group that generates peer-reviewed research and funds other research institutions that study gambling addiction.