ICRG News

The NCRG staff, Board of Directors and Scientific Advisory Board wishes you a belated Happy New Year! Last year was an exciting and productive time for the NCRG. Over the next few weeks, we’ll continue to post about the NCRG’s accomplishments and highlights from 2012.

The NCRG on the Road blog series includes posts from NCRG staff members as they travel to fulfill the organization’s mission of funding the highest-quality research on gambling disorders and increasing public education opportunities. This post is from Nathan Smith, the NCRG’s Program Officer, about his travels on behalf of the NCRG to the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) conference in Atlanta, Ga., and the American Psychological Association conference in Orlando, Fla.

What is a gambling disorder and how can it be treated? To answer those questions, the National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) released the seventh volume of Increasing the Odds: A Series Dedicated to Understanding Gambling Disorder.  Because some clinicians may not screen for gambling disorders in their patient assessments, this edition of Increasing the Odds can serve as an essential training guide necessary for any clinician to recognize, understand and treat gambling disorders.

The NCRG is excited to welcome three new members to its board of directors and two new members to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). 

Dr. Howard Shaffer, director of the Division on Addiction at Cambridge Health Alliance, a Harvard Medical School teaching affiliate, spoke on the subject of research revolutions in gambling disorders at last year’s National Council on Problem Gambling annual conference. Although he was discussing new trends in gambling research, “revolution” is also an apt term to describe the work of Dr. Shaffer and his colleagues at the Division on Addiction, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

In the public health and recovery arena, there has been a shift in how mental health professionals understand how to best help those who want treatment for gambling disorders. As a guiding principal of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the principles of “recovery-oriented systems of care” are redefining treatment methods for behavioral health agencies. Thanks to Mark Vander Linden, executive officer for the Iowa Gambling Treatment Program, and his team at the Iowa Department of Public Health, this new definition of recovery is providing a new framework to help those with gambling disorders across the state. Their collective efforts serve as a model for public health officials about how to collaborate with key stakeholders to make sure the needs of a community are met in terms of problem and pathological gambling recovery services. 

Responsible Gaming Education Week isn’t the only time of year that the National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) and the American Gaming Association (AGA) work together to help educate community members on some of the latest research and information about how to gamble responsibly. They also produce Responsible Gaming Quarterly, a free publication that provides a broad range of coverage on recent research results, regulatory efforts, studies and developments in the treatment field and best practices for programs that encourage responsible gaming.

Gambling disorders and responsible gaming aren’t just casino issues – they’re community issues. From local companies and nonprofit organizations to government officials and civic leaders, everyone in the community has a role to play in getting educated and helping to spread the word about available resources. To help educate various stakeholders about this community issue, the National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) developed the Gambling and Health series, including guidebooks and factsheets that are designed to explain more about pathological gambling, provide resources available to refer to those who may need help and encourage responsible decisions when gambling. 

During this year’s Responsible Gaming Education Week, the NCRG is launching the first edition of the Gambling and Health series, titled “Gambling and Health in the Workplace.” Human resources (HR) and employee assistance (EA) professionals are often trained to help employees with addiction and other mental health issues, but are not always equipped with the knowledge and resources when it comes to pathological gambling. To help address this issue, the NCRG created this educational resource to help HR and EA managers learn about gambling disorders, encourage responsible decisions when gambling and understand practical ways to assist and refer individuals with gambling problems.

The NCRG on the Road blog series includes posts from NCRG staff members as they travel to continue the organization’s mission of funding the highest-quality research on gambling disorders and increasing public education opportunities. This post is from Nathan Smith, program officer for the NCRG, about his recent trip to Lynn, Mass.

On June 25, the entire NCRG staff was able to attend the fourth public educational forum on problem gambling hosted by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission (MGC). The MGC is in charge of regulating and licensing the new casinos in Massachusetts and convened several experts to speak about research on gambling disorders and provide recommendations on how to address this issue. I was pleased that the work of the NCRG was on display throughout the course of the meeting, including testimony from Christine Reilly, senior research director for the NCRG, and presentations from two NCRG board members and two NCRG-funded researchers.

Registration is still open for the second session of the 2012 NCRG Webinar Series, taking place June 20, 2012, from 2 - 3 p.m. EST. The NCRG Webinar Series is a free, year-round educational program designed to help individuals better understand and address critical issues related to gambling disorders and responsible gaming – without having to leave their own home or office. Dr. Serena King, an assistant professor at Hamline University, will discuss her latest findings from an NCRG-funded study that examined the roles of genetics, environment and psychiatric disorders in the development of gambling disorders during the transition from youth to young adulthood.

To sign up for this free session, visit the NCRG’s upcoming webinar page and click the registration link.