Golfers place bets on 85 percent of games
John Stearns RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL6/13/2002 10:07 pm
DALLAS — Golfers who wager with each other often find the bet heightens their experience and they appear to gamble within their limitations, according to a researcher who’s studied the links between golfing and gambling.
“For the most part, gambling’s an invigorating aspect of the golf course outing,” Garry Smith, a University of Alberta professor emeritus and gaming research specialist for the Alberta Gaming Research Institute in Canada, told members Thursday attending the 16th Annual National Conference on Problem Gambling here. “Golf course wagering is a salutary form of gambling.”
Smith studied the behaviors, experiences and perceptions of members and pros at two private clubs in Alberta — part of an effort to discern differences between gambling on games of luck, light slot machines, and on games of skill, such as golf.
He found about 85 percent of players gambled every time they played. He classified them in four categories:
Upper — 5 percent, generally wagered $200 or more.
Middle — 20 percent, generally wagered $20 to $100.
Lower — 60 percent, generally wagered $1 to $20.
Nongamblers — 15 percent, who never gamble or do so infreqently.
Gamblers at the lower levels appear more captivated by the “sensuality” of the game, whereas others who bet more find the wager can stimulate them and heighten their sense of concentration, Smith said.
“Gambling adds a dash of spice,” he said.
Some golfers reported being underaroused about the game when betting for less than typical stakes.
“For these golfers, the love of the game has been replaced by the love of the wager,” Smith said.
He found the golfers rarely visited Alberta gambling establishments because of the games’ lack of skill and perceived “unfair” odds.
Unlike slot-machine gambling, for example, where people are in their “own world of quick thrills and almost sure losses,” one’s golfing skill can influence the outcome of the wager, Smith said.
Golf wagering also provides a social experience, unlike machine gaming, and therefore provides a check on one’s gambling behavior. The sport’s handicap system also helps to level players of differing abilities, thus adding more control factors, he said.
Smith found a token amount of gambling among younger females, but none in the middle or higher wagering categories. He also found that men and women rarely bet with each other, but play recreationally instead.
Golf wagering also provides players a chance to “display culturally approved character traits,” such as playing coolly under pressure, he said.
Dennis Conrad, president of Raving Consulting Co. in Reno, Nev., asked Smith if it might be misguided for casinos to target golfers for business if they tend to avoid casino games.
“It’s not a bad idea to attract the golfers because they will spend some money,” Smith answered, drawing a distinction between golfers who might avoid the casinos at home but will visit them as part of golfing trips.
The sport is widely popular, in part because it’s ideally suited for wagering, Smith said, noting that golfers have wagered since the game’s inception.
Copyright © 2002 The Reno Gazette-Journal
Net can be useful for helping problem gamblers
John Stearns RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL6/13/2002 10:13 pm
DALLAS — While the Internet has more than 1,400 sites on which to gamble, the World Wide Web also opens countless doors for presenting helpful information to problem gamblers, a counselor said here Thursday.
“Get a little bit more of an open mind” to reach people through the Net and other technology, Kevin O’Neill told the audience at the 16th annual National Conference on Problem Gambling.
Technology is advancing rapidly and more people are relying on things such as the Web, he said. Children and young adults are especially Internet savvy, he noted.
“Think outside the box,” O’Neill said. “It’s hard to help Internet gamblers if you’re in a land-based system.”
O’Neill, who maintains a private practice and training consulting firm, Counseling & Training for Recovery in Allentown, N.J., hopes eventually to see all Internet gambling sites contain links to help lines for problem gamblers. Today, fewer than 100 of the gambling sites do so.
“They need to do a heck of a lot more,” he said.
He urged people in prevention and therapy to use the Net to provide information people otherwise might not get by calling a help line or seeking assistance in person through such avenues as counselors or Gamblers Anonymous meetings.
“People can use the Internet and they’re not ashamed,” O’Neill said. “Maybe we provided a service (online) that they never would have gotten.”
Therapists, prevention experts and others in the problem gambling field must check their e-mails regularly and in a timely fashion.
Not doing so would be equivalent to a therapist not returning a call, he added.
“It’s not just courtesy ... it’s good treatment,” O’Neill said.
He also urged organizations with help sites to keep them updated with the latest information on meeting locations and times for Gamblers Anonymous, help lines and other links — including to competing problem gambling resources.
“We want to help people,” he said.
Broadcast e-mails of newsworthy research or information, Internet press releases, public service announcements in the media all are constructive ways to provide information and education, he said.
Technology, such as caller ID, also can help trace suicidal callers to their addresses, O’Neill said.
Therapists can’t control how people interpret advice, he said, adding that appropriate disclaimers can be posted with all online information.
“(But) if you don’t give them the information, that’s on you,” he advised.
Copyright © 2002 The Reno Gazette-Journal
Gambling Q&A
Staff Report RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL6/13/2002 10:48 pm
How big of a problem is gambling addiction as a part of the entire industry and what has your employer done to alleviate the problem?
Gary Thompson, director of communications, Harrah’s Entertainment Inc.: Among other things, more than 20 years ago, (Harrah’s CEO) Phil Satre convened the first problem gambling task force inside the company. Stemming from that effort were a number of initiatives such as Project 21, to combat underage gambling, and Operation Bet Smart that Harrah’s developed to educate people about the dangers of getting in over their head. Harrah’s and other companies have financed studies into pathological gambling and set up a research center. Harrah’s has also recently begun running a series of TV spots that feature Satre and employees saying if you’re feeling depressed, had too much to drink, you shouldn’t be gambling, and if you’re gambling over your head, we don’t want your business. They’re pretty powerful spots.
Bo Bernhard, assistant professor, hotel administration/sociology, expert in problem gambling, University of Nevada, Las Vegas: We know that nationwide the rates have been established at about 1 to 2 percent. The rates in Nevada, by a study last month, set the number between 4 and 6 percent. The field of gambling addiction is where the field of alcohol addiction was fifty years ago. UNLV is establishing organizing a group of academics to study the problem gambling issue more closely. We have access to a wonderful laboratory in Las Vegas to study gambling behavior. I compare it to if you were a physicist and you got to live in a vacuum. I tell our researchers you live in a wonderful test tube in Las Vegas. We teach hotel student so they can become more responsible employees. We hope to develop a symbiotic model where the academic environment informs the business environment and vice versa so that the university enhances its home community.
Ed Rogich, vice president of marketing, International Game Technology: While it is a problem it is not as widespread as some would have you believe. There are some individuals that have a control issue. There is help available today for them when there wasn’t in the past. Our company has been very active through coordination with AGA. We try to do our part to help those individuals that need help. We are good community citizens. IGT involves itself in many community causes. It is a medical issue with individuals. We recognize we can help and we do our part to help.
Bruce Dewing, president, The Holder Hospitality Group Inc., casinos include Silver Club Hotel Casino in Sparks: I personally have not seen any statistic that says there is a real problem in Nevada. … In 28 years, I have run across maybe a handful of people who have a propensity to gamble and lose everything and then some. There have always been people (who gamble and lose everything) all the way back to the Roman days. Does that mean they are addicted? No, it means they are stupid. I have had some of my managers tell me this person got in over their head. We know they can’t afford it. We have markers in the cage that we can’t collect on. They are few and far between. At our casinos, if we see someone in over their head, we cut them off. Short of tying someone up and physically removing them from the building, what are we supposed to do? We don’t deal to drunk people. We cut people off at the bar. We have check cashing limits. We don’t exceed those limits. That is why the limits are there.
Copyright © 2002 The Reno Gazette-Journal
80 percent of adolescents gambleSubstance abuse correlates with wagering issues
John Stearns RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL6/14/2002 11:19 pm
DALLAS — An estimated 80 percent of adolescents gamble in some form, and those with more problems also report increased use of alcohol and drugs, researchers and addiction specialists said here Friday during the 16th Annual National Conference on Problem Gambling.
“The message is that teens are gambling, so you need to pay attention,” David Korn, a member of the University of Toronto’s Department of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, said after his presentation.
Teens’ prevalence rate of pathological gambling runs two to four times that of adults, Korn said in an interview. About 5 percent have severe gambling problems and 15 percent have moderate ones, he said.
“They’re gambling a lot and they’ve got lots of problems,” Korn said, emphasizing the need for more research and early intervention to help.
He encouraged conference attendees to reach teens through the technology they so regularly use — especially the Internet, whose rate of use is about 65 percent in the United States, 75 percent in Europe and 90 percent in Canada.
Teens in Ontario, Canada, worked with Korn and his staff to develop a Web site, targeted at helping youths 10 to 19 years old to address peers in a language and culture they understand. The informational site launched last month.
Durand Jacobs, clinical professor of psychiatry at Loma Linda University Medical School in California, said what the addict does is not his or her problem.
“They’re trying to help themselves by gambling or drinking,” he said, adding that they’re trying to escape from their underlying problems.
“Red flags” include getting in a trance, losing time and feeling outside themselves in the activity, he said.
Jacobs urged listeners to consider new treatment approaches.
“Get in early, then we have a better chance ... for helping these kids,” he said.
Children should be taught life-management skills to cope with various stages of their development to prevent maladaptive behaviors, such as problem gambling, he said. They must be taught “skills of living” as the only way to prevent bad behavior, he added, calling for family members to become involved in treatment.
Chantal Ste-Marie, who earned her master’s degree at McGill University in Canada studying anxiety and social stress related to adolescent gambling among youths 12 to 17 in the Montreal region, also called for teaching appropriate coping skills. Teens must be taught ways to monitor their anxiety and stress levels, she said, noting that probable pathological gamblers experience more anxiety and social stress and use more alcohol and drugs.
“Today’s adolescents are faced with many more stresses and demands (than 10 years ago) ... so as a result, they may turn to maladaptive coping mechanisms, (such as gambling),” Ste-Marie said in reporting her study’s findings. “Problem pathological gamblers are reporting a lot more alcohol use, illicit drug use, as well as cigarette smoking.
“It appears anxiety does play a role both in gambling behavior and in substance use.”
Korn emphasized the need to identify problems in youths early to prevent further problems as they become adults.
Research into youth gambling, however, is only a decade old, he said.
“It’s gaining momentum,” Korn said. “(Problem gambling among youths) has a lot of commonalties with other addictive behaviors.”
Awareness must increase, especially with gambling’s spread, he said.
“(From a public-policy perspective), we need to be very thoughtful about some of the social downsides to this,” he said.
Copyright © 2002 The Reno Gazette-Journal
Problem gambling: Self-exclusion programs show potential
John Stearns RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL6/14/2002 11:23 pm
DALLAS — Programs allowing problem gamblers to voluntarily be excluded from casinos have the potential to be effective, but must be improved and studied further, a Canadian researcher told a problem gaming conference here Friday.
“A small percentage of people are able to completely (stop) gambling once excluded,” Nadine Nowatzki, research associate for the Alberta Gaming Research Institute and School of Health Sciences at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, Canada, said during a presentation at the 16th Annual National Conference on Problem Gambling.
Enforcing such self-exclusion is difficult, though, she and other speakers emphasized.
One exception is Holland Casino in The Netherlands, Nowatzki said. There, patrons must show an identification card to enter a casino which, when swiped, will tell personnel if the holder has been excluded. Also, if a person enters a casino more than eight times a month, staff is notified to approach the customer and perhaps suggest self-exclusion, she said.
“I’m not sure if The Netherlands program would work here,” Nowatzki said, while noting that casino has proven it still can make a profit with the program.
Canadian provinces have self-exclusion periods ranging from six months to five years. Nova Scotia, however, has an indefinite ban. Penalties for breaching self-exclusion range from nothing to a trespassing charge, which Ontario will include with a fine.
Only 0.4 percent to 1.5 percent of problem gamblers utilize the program in Canada, Nowatzki said.
“(Requesting self-exclusion) requires individuals to admit that they have a problem,” she said, adding the availability of such programs must be promoted and advertised.
Patrons, she said, shouldn’t have to enter a casino to sign up for self-exclusion and employees need more training to recognize and approach problem gamblers.
Missouri has an “irrevocable” self-exclusion program that bans participants from state casinos for life, said Kevin Mullally, executive director of the Missouri Gaming Commission. The program includes 3,800 names and is getting about 100 requests a month to sign up, Mullally said.
A key element of the program, which is about six years old, is providing applicants with information on treatment for problem gambling.
“Always, always, always provide treatment information,” Mullally stressed to the audience, adding self-excluded people also must be deterred from re-entering the casino. “Trespass is the appropriate penalty.”
Horseshoe Casino & Hotel in Bossier City, La., has a self-exclusion program in which staff escort the patron off the property and issue a warning not to return, said Frank Williams Jr., vice president of government affairs there.
People can seek re-instatement after five years, but a qualified mental-health professional must verify a patron’s capacity to gamble without adverse risks, he said.
“We at the Horseshoe take self-exclusion very, very seriously,” Williams said.
In Louisiana and New Jersey, which also has a program, if an excluded patron wins a jackpot, the money goes to a state fund to address problem gambling, Nowatzki said.
Mullally acknowledged that self-exclusion programs — which Mullally said also exist in states that include Michigan, Illinois and New Mexico — are not a panacea. Nor are they substitutes for treatment or a promise to keep gamblers out the casino, he said.
Participants noted the difficulty of tracking self-excluded patrons based on photographs that might not resemble a person’s current looks, for example. A computer program like Holland Casino’s would solve that, though, Nowatzki said after the presentation.
In the meantime, current programs must be improved, she said.
“Right now, it seems like (public relations),” she said of casinos that tout self-exclusion programs. “If you’re going to offer this as a service, you should do it right.”
One of her recommendations: Gamblers and casinos should face fines to ensure compliance. Penalties, however, would be unnecessary with a system like Holland Casino’s, she said.