Columnist Jeff German: Problem gambling needs a fix

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2003 | 11:32 a.m.

The experts who treat addicted gamblers will tell you that there should be no limits to the amount of money spent protecting society from gambling's ill effects.

That proactive approach has long been lacking in Nevada, where the last two Legislatures have rejected bills to set aside money for problem gambling treatment.

Encouraging responsible gaming as a means to reduce the number of problem gamblers should be a key component of any community's overall plan of attack.

In recent years the casino industry here has made a larger effort to heighten the awareness of responsible gaming. Signs are posted at casinos, buttons are passed out, hotline numbers are published and casino employees are being trained to spot those who gamble too much.

But this week, at the Global Gaming Expo, the industry's annual worldwide trade show, it was clear that, with a little progressive thinking, much more could be done.

Stephen S. MacDonald, operations director of Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation, which runs the only two licensed casinos in that eastern Canadian province, gave convention-goers a lecture on what it's like for a community to really commit itself to encouraging responsible gaming.

In Nova Scotia casino operators have taken the battle directly to the front lines. All of the province's "video lottery terminals" now have pop-up reminders, informing gamblers how long they've been playing and how much money they've poured into a machine. Each terminal even has a clock and a warning that the gambler will have to cash out and move to another machine after 150 minutes of play.

It's all part of Nova Scotia's effort to get a better handle on what drives moderate gamblers to an addiction.

More research needs to be done before authorities can say that the pop-ups are having a positive effect on curbing the problem, but it is clear that the warnings have caught the attention of gamblers, which is more than local casino operators can say about their responsible gaming campaign.

Bottom-line casino industry leaders in Nevada are skeptical of the Nova Scotia experiment, saying there is no evidence at all to suggest that pop-ups are deterring problem gamblers.

Rob Hunter, a clinical psychologist who treats local addicted gamblers, says that, when the subject came up in his focus groups, his patients all laughed out loud. They told him that, even if the machines periodically handed out electric shocks, it still wouldn't stop them from playing.

But that's not the intent of the pop-ups. The intent is to prevent moderate players from going over the edge and adding to a community's problem gambling population.

So if we stay focused on that limited goal, then the Nova Scotia way of doing things has potential and deserves serious consideration here.

It is true that it would be a huge undertaking to install pop-ups in Nevada, which has about 210,000 slot machines in casinos and neighborhood bars and grocery stores.

But it would not be impossible.

All it would take is leadership and a willingness on the part of local casinos to be responsible and spend real money on the problem.