Columnist Jeff German: Wristbands won’t cure addiction

Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2005 | 10:55 a.m.

No one has to heighten Dr. Robert Hunter's awareness of problem gambling.

"It's hard not to be aware," says Hunter, a psychologist who runs the Problem Gambling Center, the only nonprofit clinic of its type in the valley. "The phone doesn't stop ringing."

This might explain why Hunter wasn't all that excited Monday as the casino industry kicked off its annual Responsible Gaming Education Week with its usual fluff and flare at the Bellagio.

Hunter was in the middle of a typical day in the trenches -- where the real fight against gambling addiction takes place.

It was another day of struggling with his staff to pare down the clinic's waiting list so that a couple of suicidal gambling addicts could get the treatment they needed before it was too late.

And it was another day of listening to the real human pain that walks through his doorway seeking counseling.

Away from the heartache at Hunter's clinic, Frank Fahrenkopf, the industry's chief Washington lobbyist, and Terry Lanni, chairman of the behemoth MGM Mirage, were hyping a new responsible gambling campaign at a news conference inside the posh Bellagio.

The big news there was that the industry had decided to hand out bright orange "Keep it Fun" wristbands to casino employees to promote the dangers of overdoing the gaming experience.

The wristbands also are being sold for $1 in casino gift shops, with all proceeds going to gambling addiction research sponsored by the industry's own National Center for Responsible Gaming.

Afterwards Fahrenkopf said the iniative was launched to "jazz up" problem gambling awareness.

Glitz is gaming's specialty.

But glitz didn't help Nellis Air Force Sgt. Kevin Jay Johnson, who pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to pulling off eight bank robberies in 2004 to fuel his gambling habit.

And glitz isn't making it easier for Hunter to ease the pain of the broken spirits he sees every day.

"I'm certainly supportive of all of those efforts, and they're doing a great job," Hunter says. "But the whole point of an awareness campaign is to get people in need to treatment, and the treatment resources here are already overburdened and underfunded."

What good is a wristband to a gambling addict who has no money to pay the rent or feed his family?

Though it is clever, the industry's latest awareness campaign is nothing but a public relations stunt to make itself feel good and look serious about fighting the problem.

The industry will never be taken seriously until it's willing to do what Hunter says it needs to do -- pour more money into treatment on the front lines.

Later this month Gov. Kenny Guinn will appoint the nine members of the state's first-ever Problem Gambling Advisory Committee. The panel will oversee the distribution of a $2.5 million fund set up by the Legislature this year to treat gambling addicts.

Nevada Human Resources Director Mike Willden, who will be working with the advisory committee, says he hopes the group will have its first public meeting by early September and start getting money on the street in November.

Slot machine taxes will jump-start the fund for its first two years, but it will be counting on private donations to stay afloat in the future.

That will be the casino industry's cue to make up for lost time and fight problem gambling with more than "jazzy" wristbands.