On September 14, 2007 I walked into a local casino in Las Vegas and made what would turn out to be my final bets to date. As I had done so many times in the previous two years, I left work early to play at a property that was less than five minutes from my daughter’s daycare so that I could gamble right up to the last few minutes before it closed. On most occasions I was the final parent to pick up their child, often leaving my daughter in the daycare’s charge for one to two hours longer than she otherwise would have been had I actually picked her up after I left work.
Over the course of a couple years I had racked up a substantial amount of debt in the form of hidden credit cards and payday loans that my then-wife had no idea existed. I had become someone who had not only the capacity to destroy himself, but also damage his family’s financial future, impact multiple job sites, and the (fortunately unrealized) potential to cause harm to this country’s national security, all because of a serious gambling addiction.
There have been many times since that day that I have reflected back on that time and wondered whether or not any personal foreknowledge, brief interventions, or tools and concepts available today might have kept me from traveling down a road of self-destruction. The only honest answer to that question is, of course, “I don’t know.” I can’t turn back the clock and change those variables and conduct that particular experiment on myself again (nor would I want to!).
However, I suspect that a general education about gambling as a potentially addictive behavior, along with the knowledge and use of RG tools and the possibility of interventions and/or messaging “nudges” from the gambling industry in response to observed trends in my play could have gone a long way towards earlier help-seeking on my part, at a minimum.
I eventually did seek out help in the form of both professional treatment in an intensive outpatient program as well as regular self-help therapy in the form of a mutual aid support group, both of which provided me with tools that I use to remain abstinent from gambling to this day. However, it’s entirely possible that, had I or others identified some of the earliest gambling-related harms that were affecting my life, I might still be an engaged recreational customer to this day.
As it is, not only has the industry not received a gambling-related dime of my money in nearly 17 years, neither has it benefited from having me as the walking advertisement for its products and services I might have been had I still been enjoying gambling. And, by the way, neither does it enjoy the patronage of the half dozen or so people in my life who I affected deeply because of my gambling disorder, most of whom had engaged in at least casual gambling from time to time prior to my impacts on their lives. Bean counters, please take note!
Ultimately, in my recovery from this illness I have become a fierce advocate for public education and awareness of problem gambling and the resources available in Nevada that can help individuals suffering from a gambling problem and their affected others connect to help. I worked first as a volunteer, then as a consultant in the field, and finally made a late-life career change about a year ago, retiring from a 32-year position on the faculty of the Desert Research Institute to become the executive director of the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling.
During my first year in that position, I have heard many invoke the phrase “Nevada is different” in response to my expressions of frustration about the general state of RG and PG regulations in the state, as well the seemingly cavalier attitude that some of the state’s licensees take about following the letter or the spirit of the regulations that Nevada does have, which technically is supposed to constitute an unsuitable method of operation.
Currently, Nevada Gaming Regulation 5.170—Programs to address problem gambling—requires only that licensees post “…in conspicuous places in or near gaming and cage areas and cash dispensing machines located in gaming areas written materials concerning the nature and symptoms of problem gambling and the toll-free telephone number of the National Council on Problem Gambling…”, “implement procedures and training for all employees who directly interact with gaming patrons in gaming areas…”, and “implement a program…that allows patrons to self-limit their access to the issuance of credit, check cashing, or direct mail marketing by that licensee.” That’s it…nothing more.
People who contact the Nevada Council wondering about the procedure for self-excluding oneself from being able to gamble at a property are often shocked to learn that Nevada has no such process (though properties owned by Caesars do, in fact, offer this opportunity as a matter of company policy both here and nationwide), other than for online sports betting. And I’ve been dismayed to learn through personal observations during my first year leading the Council that some licensees do not even minimally meet some of the above requirements.
In Nevada, the Gaming Control Board often includes in many of its public sessions the declaration that Nevada represents the “Gold Standard” of regulation when it comes to the gambling industry. In many regulatory areas this may be true, though events of the past year that include sordid tales of illegal bookmakers laundering ill-gotten gains through Las Vegas casinos while those that knew better looked the other way give one pause. What is certain, however, is that while Nevada can be proud of the fact that it was the very first state to address the issues of RG and PG in regulation, those regulations have remained unchanged since 1999, and Nevada now falls far behind most other when it comes to measures to help protect its own citizens from gambling-related harms.
It also now ranks a disappointing 15th in the nation in per capita funding that is ostensibly in place to protect gambling patrons, employees of licensees, and the Nevada public at large. Realistically, only a few states in the country have created funding streams that adequately addresses these issues within their own borders, and Nevada would need a roughly 300% increase in its funding simply to meet the goals of its own strategic plan to address these issues.
Meanwhile, the federal government continues to devote exactly zero dollars to an issue that is having a significant public health impact across the country, despite the fact it realizes billions of dollars in revenue annually from gambling-related taxes. The GRIT Act, introduced earlier this year by Sen. Blumenthal of Connecticut and Rep. Salinas from Oregon would go a long way toward easing the funding problem in most states, including Nevada, by returning a significant portion of a federal excise tax on sports betting to the states for that purpose and allocating another portion to a fund to be used for research grants on this topic. Unfortunately, some lawmakers are more focused on trying to do away with the excise tax entirely than earmark those funds in a way that would greatly benefit citizens of our state and others by directly returning those monies to address problem gambling and responsible gambling, areas that are grossly underfunded both in Nevada and in most states.
Nevada has more than enough capacity and brain trust to once again become a thought leader in both development and implementation of a regulatory framework that will adequately fund and address public awareness, education, prevention, and development and evaluation of RG tools, as well as provide treatment for those who experience gambling-related harms in spite of the best efforts in the other areas mentioned above. Without all of these pieces in place, the phrase “gamble responsibly” is meaningless, and the three-legged stool of responsibility comprising industry, government, and the individual tips over and comes crashing down. Nevada is home to incredibly well-respected organizations such as UNLV’s International Gaming Institute, the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling, the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, and several outstanding treatment programs who all have valuable resources to contribute to such a process.
What say you, Nevada? Can we be “different” in the best way possible when it comes to responsible gambling? We can certainly be better than what we are now…
