Webinar Series

The 2022 March – April Webinar series has concluded.

State of the States: Sports Betting, Problem Gambling and What’s Next | Wednesday, March 9, 2022 10:00-11:30am
Presented by Brianne Doura

This interactive session will examine an overview of the sports wagering landscape in the US, the primary ways that US gambling stakeholders are setting up a risky foundation that is replicating the mistakes of more mature markets that are currently experiencing a great deal of harm. The presenter will cover a variety of proactive approaches legislators, regulators, health officials, and private stakeholders could and should be taking to create a safe and sustainable gambling market. The presentation will end highlighting some of the biggest takeaways and lessons learned from legalized sports wagering since the overturning of the Professional Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) and concluding with a call to action for all problem gambling stakeholders.

Learning Objectives

  • Participants will be able to describe the legislative and regulatory happenings around expanded gambling, specifically sports wagering throughout the nation.
  • Participants will be able to identify statutory and regulatory barriers and intersections to responsible and problem gambling policy.
  • Participants will be able to understand what individuals need to be doing to create impactful and meaningful change to gambling policy.

Who’s Responsible for Responsible Gambling? New Research Findings and Their Implications for Diverse Stakeholder Groups | Wednesday, March 23, 2022 10:00-11:30am
Presented by Heather Gray

This presentation will discuss the concept of shared responsibility as applied to the prevention of problem gambling, situating shared responsibility within a larger public health framework. After establishing problem gambling prevention as a responsibility that should be shared among gamblers, operators, and other stakeholders, it will answer three empirical questions: (1) Are beliefs about shared (versus individual-only and external-only) responsibility linked to gambling patterns, and if so how? (2) Do gamblers naturally tend to hold a shared responsibility viewpoint about the prevention of gambling harm? and (3) Does exposure to “responsible gambling” programming encourage a shared responsibility viewpoint? Dr. Gray will address these questions using data from three large-scale cross-sectional surveys. Finally, Dr. Gray will discuss implications for future prevention and intervention efforts.

Learning Objectives

  • Participants will be able to articulate the shared, individual-only, and external-only viewpoints of problem gambling prevention
  • Participants will be able to describe research findings regarding gamblers’ perceptions of responsibility for minimizing gambling harm
  • Participants will be able to apply these concepts and findings to the development of innovative and effectiveness prevention/intervention strategies

Fish and Chips: All-Inclusive Collegiate Problem Gambling Programming | Wednesday, March 30, 2022 10:00-11:30am
Presented by Michael Buzzelli

In developing a problem gambling program with colleges and universities; where do you start? Who do you call? Who do you work with? If these answers don’t come easy you aren’t alone. While professionals in the problem gambling field have known for years that college and university students are at an increased risk for developing problem gambling behaviors, few have been able to get effective and sustainable programs off the ground. These professionals typically receive the same responses of “our students don’t gamble” or more often “we have bigger fish to fry.” Well, I say, let’s fry those fish, but let me add a side of another risk behavior your students just might get involved in, if they aren’t already. When developing a problem gambling program with colleges and universities we can’t just focus on the sports pools, brackets, video games and poker chips, we must also address the fish. This session will discuss the necessity of integrating problem gambling programming into campus life issues including substance use, mental health, finances, peer support and wellness and highlight key student populations to collaborate with when developing these programs.

Learning Objectives

  • Participants will be able to explain strategies in creating college and university buy-in around sustainable problem gambling programming.
  • Participants will be able to select campus and student leaders to collaborate with in efforts to promote awareness and increase impact.
  • Participants will have developed a stronger sense of responsibility to integrate problem gambling with other topics impacting student life.

The Gambling Treatment Program Capability Index | Wednesday, April 6, 2022 10:00-11:30am
Presented by Jeff Marotta and David Corse

This presentation will describe a program improvement project to assist with the development of a statewide system of publicly-funded gambling treatment programs. The target group were behavioral health agencies offering problem gambling treatment in Oregon. The development approach incorporated best practices as identified by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the gambling disorders literature, and expert review. The resulting Technical Assistance Visit Toolkit & Gambling Treatment Program Capability Index (GTPCI) offer a streamline program improvement protocol for use specifically with agencies offering gambling treatment programs. The presentation will include a description of the model upon which the GTPCI was developed, details on how the model translates to practice including experience in implementing this program development approach, merits of the model, and program results. The generalizability of the model and program development approach will be discussed.

Learning Objectives

  • Participants will gain an understanding of a model depicting a comprehensive approach toward addressing problem gambling within an agency.
  • Participants will learn about and better understand various strategies to increase gambling treatment enrollments.
  • Participants will better understand why it is important for behavioral healthcare agencies to apply a gambling informed approach throughout their system.