The gaming experience is supposed to be fun for our guests. That’s why we design casinos to be pleasing to the eyes, so that players are excited to be involved and receive the best service and hospitality. But when the fun is over, it becomes a serious problem.
At Global Gaming Business magazine, we’ve taken problem gambling very seriously right from the start. We’ve covered the issue very extensively and try to stay current on all the latest research and treatment options. I personally have been following this issue for my entire career. I attended the very first conference staged by the National Center for Responsible Gaming (now the International Center) in 1999 at George Washington University.
Even though I was familiar with some of the literature, the presentations at that event went way over my head. Lots of science about brain synapses, physiology, and lots of things I didn’t understand. But I understood that since there really had been no research about the physical and mental effects of problem gambling, we were really starting from scratch.
At subsequent conferences things become more clear, as research was presented about the causes of problem gambling and why some people become addicted while others could play with no risk. But then the co-morbidity question became a stumbling block. It seems those addicted to gambling were often also addicted to alcohol, drugs, sex or some combination of all. It is, after all, very complicated.
During this year’s Responsible Gaming Education Month, sponsored by the American Gaming Association, Global Gaming Business and our partners at iGaming Business will present a month of columns, each written by a recognized expert in problem gambling. This will be the third year we’ve offered this program, and what has become quite clear is that lots of experts have lots of differing opinions on the subject. But we can celebrate the diversity of opinions because all of us have the same goal: To mitigate any damage that our products cause and to figure out how to bring that down as close to zero as possible.
Of course, the new exposure to online sports betting and online casinos has made that task much more urgent. And when you add illegal offshore casinos and unregulated so-called “skill” games, they only add to the complexity. So we’ll be highlighting every column on the GGB X page—@globalgamingbiz—and would like you to comment on those you agree with or even those you don’t agree with.
We can all work together and come to some consensus that will help those in danger. We never intended our products to do harm so it’s the very least we can do. Keeping our products safe is the ultimate goal.
