News from the worlds of research and clinical practice
Volume 3, No. 12: Problem Gambling Online Workshops
Aug 1, 2001

Brought to you by FAX, email, and on the web by the Mid-Atlantic Addiction Technology Transfer Center

Funded by Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, SAMHSA

Welcome to Addiction Exchange, a forum for the exchange of clinical practice and research information among clinicians, scientists, educators, and administrators in the field of addiction.  This issue deals with the issue of problem gambling and three new, stand-alone distance-learning workshops, which give an overview of the phenomenon. Provided through a collaboration with the Mid- ATTC, Virginia Commonwealth University's Department of Rehabilitation Counseling, and the Virginia Council on Problem Gambling, Inc., the 20-CEU, workshop-style courses use Blackboard courseware for which VCU will provide access and training. (Training requires the completion of an online tutorial just after workshop registration.) The workshops are highly interactive, including a discussion forum.

Today, the vast majority of Americans either gamble recreationally with few ill effects, or choose not to gamble at all. Regrettably, some of them gamble in ways that harm themselves, their families and their communities. Over the past 25 years, the U.S. has been transformed from a nation in which legalized gambling was a limited and relatively rare phenomenon into one in which this activity is common and growing. According to the U.S. General Accounting Office (GAO, 2000), approximately 86% of American adults have gambled at some time in their lives, with 63% reporting they have gambled in the previous year. More people are now gambling, and more money is being wagered. In 1997 alone, Americans collectively wagered more than $551 billion. The estimated profits from legalized gambling totaled about $54.3 billion.

Currently, 47 of the 50 states have some form of legalized gambling; only Utah, Tennessee and Hawaii do not. The expansion of gambling has taken many forms: state lotteries, convenience gambling, land-based casinos, riverboat casinos, Native American tribal gambling, pari-mutuel wagering, simulcasting and account wagering, sports wagering, and others. Marketing, public policy and regulation (or the lack thereof) all play important roles in this expansion.

What is known is that with the advent of new gambling technologies (i.e., the Internet), pathological gambling is likely to become even more widespread. As a result, there has been increasing concern about the impact of both problem and pathological gambling. Given this situation, a national response to this global phenomenon was inevitable.

In 1997, the National Gambling Impact Study Commission (NGISC, 1999) was charged with conducting a comprehensive, factual study of the social and economic implications of gambling in the United States. This study spanned three years and cost eight million dollars. Among its findings, the Commission concluded that the incidence of problem gambling is on the rise and that government and private-sector efforts to treat gambling addiction have been inadequate. The Commission further concluded that more research on the prevalence and causes of problem and pathological gambling is a priority.

A variety of terms have been used in gambling research literature to refer to the difficulties caused by an individual's gambling. The most widely used are pathological gambling and problem gambling. Pathological gambling refers to the disease first recognized by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). It is described as "a recurrent gambling behavior that disrupts all aspects of the gambler's life" (APA, 1980). Strictly speaking, pathological gambling refers to gambling that meets at least five of the APA's 10 criteria for pathological gambling. Alternately, problem gambling refers to individuals who meet less than five of the APA criteria. Problem gambling is used to indicate all of the patterns of gambling behavior that compromise, disrupt or damage personal, family, or vocational pursuits.

Pathological gambling is defined as a chronic and progressive failure to resist impulses to gamble. In the United States alone, pathological gambling affects 1.8 million adults and 1.1 million adolescents in any given year (Shafer, Hall, & Vander Bilt, 1999). The elderly, the poor, persons in sensitive occupations (i.e., persons working within the gambling industry), and people with disabilities may have disproportionately higher rates, but this has not been verified. Pathological gamblers are believed to commit crimes, run up large debts, damage relationships with family and friends, engage in more domestic violence and child abuse, and commit suicide.

The objective of these online workshops, listed below, is to provide an understanding of the worldwide proliferation of legalized gambling, the nature and scope of the problem of pathological gambling, and specific considerations in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of problem gambling. The intent is to make the student aware of problem gambling as an economic, social, occupational, and clinical phenomenon, and the manner in which it co-exists with other behavior disorders. Resources for evaluation, treatment, and ongoing education regarding problem gambling will also be emphasized.

· PGED101 Overview of Problem Gambling
No prerequisite
September 11 to September 28, 2001

· PGED102: Problem Gambling Assessment and Prevention
PGED101 is prerequisite
October 16 to November 2, 2001

· PGED103: Treatment and Special Topics
PGED102 is prerequisite
November 27 to December 14, 2001

Deadline to register for all three courses: September 3, 2001. Costs for the courses are as follows: (A contract rate of $250 per student for all three workshops is available for organizations sponsoring 10 or more students.)

· PGED 101: $100 · PGED 101 & 102: $190 · PGED 101, 102, 103: $275

For more information, go to http://www.vcpg.org or http://www.mid-attc.org/courses, or contact Carolyn Hawley, lead instructor, at cehawley@vcu.edu; (804) 827-0921; fax (804) 828-1321.

References:
American Psychiatric Association. (1980). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Third Edition. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.
National Gambling Impact Study Commission (1999). National Gambling Impact Study Report. Washington, DC: Author. http://www.ngisc.gov/
Shafer, H.J., Hall, M.N., and Vader Billet, J. (1999). Estimating the prevalence of disordered gambling behavior in the United States and Canada: a research synthesis. American Journal of Public Health, 89, 1369-1376.
Unites States General Accounting Office (2000). Impact of Gambling. Washington, DC: Author. http://www.gao.gov/

This article was written by guest author Ms. Carolyn Hawley, Research Project Coordinator in VCU's Department of Rehabilitation Counseling and lead instructor for the gambling series.