Mar 15, 2024 | ABOUT MNAPG
Adina Black joined MNPGA in December as program manager. In her role, Adina will work to mobilize communities to become more educated about gambling addiction and to understand how to help people access resources. Adina is excited about this opportunity and plans to draw from her creativity and skill in strategizing. “I look to develop a vision for the community about how we can meet the needs of problem gamblers,” says Adina.
Adina has considerable experience in community engagement. She previously worked at the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute, where she worked with community organizations to help them focus on their priorities and to advance the well-being of communities. Her efforts involved developing networks and coalitions around community issues, with an emphasis on developing collaborative partnerships.
In her first weeks at MNPGA, Adina has quickly gained an appreciation for the issue of problem gambling. “Learning how much it’s associated with substance use and other addictions but not receiving a proportionate amount of funding represents a challenge,” says Adina. “It seems like problem gambling has taken a back seat and not received the recognition it deserves.”
Adina has also learned about the way problem gambling has been viewed in different communities. “From my perspective as a Black woman, I think about the different kinds of behaviors that have been normalized in the Black community that I now recognize as people struggling with gambling issues. It’s been an eye-opener.”
We look forward to the impact Adina will make. Welcome to MNAPG, Adina!
Mar 15, 2024 | PROBLEM GAMBLING
As states and gambling operators grapple with how to best identify gamblers exhibiting possible problem gambling behavior, the need to gather comprehensive, consolidated and anonymous gambler data is becoming increasingly apparent. This is particularly important because an individual’s gambling activity may be spread across a number of platforms and operators (see page 3), making it essentially impossible for an individual operator to obtain a snapshot of a gambler’s total spending.
ID Pair, a New Jersey-based organization whose mission is to create responsible gambling solutions for operators, state regulators and others, is developing tools to analyze the entirety of a gambler’s activity, providing a better opportunity for intervention.
“The task of a sports book is to make sure customers are behaving in sustainable ways,” says Jonathan Aiwazian, CEO and founder of ID Pair. “But how can they do that if they only see a fraction of the data?”
ID Pair performs two fundamental tasks. First, it anonymizes gambler data as it amasses it across gambling operators. Secondly, it runs an analysis on the “single view” of a gambler to identify high-risk behavior, thus allowing operators to send appropriate cautionary communications and reminders to the player.
“Ultimately, it’s a customer’s decision whether to embrace or ignore messages about high-risk behavior, but at least the operator can step in with actions that emphasize long-term health and sustainability,” says Jonathan, who previously worked for several operators and observed that they were limited in what they could see — hence the need for a system to bridge the gap in data from one operator to another.
Jonathan notes that operators have historically been protective of customer data and apprehensive about sharing it. However, he thinks that attitude is thawing in light of the need to cultivate a sustainable customer base. “I think that operators are seeing that it’s actually good for the industry and gives them a way to work together,” says Jonathan.
Europe, which traditionally has been years ahead of the U.S. when it comes to building tools to identify problem gamblers, has imposed regulations to ensure that operators work together. It may be that U.S. gambling operators can avoid the need for heavy regulation if they begin working together.
ID Pair works directly with regulators or operators, depending on the state and where the interest in strengthening consumer protections comes from. “It’s most beneficial when there’s legislative support so that regulators can create rules rather than start from scratch,” says Jonathan. “In states where there’s more backing, there’s more opportunity to do more with advancing responsible gambling.”
As Minnesota continues to consider legalizing sports gambling — along with casino gambling already in place — it’s an opportunity to establish a structure early on. “States just beginning to legalize more aspects of gambling have an early opportunity to create data that will help them understand how legalization is changing behavior, and ultimately inform future policy,” says Jonathan. “Without data, there is no visibility. If states creative incentives for operators to share information, it’s better for everyone in the end.”
For its efforts to promote responsible gambling, ID Pair received the Play Well Award from the Responsible Gambling Council and Flutter Entertainment, FanDuel’s parent company.
Jan 26, 2024 | RESEARCH
Read the original article on The Basis HERE.
By Kira Landauer, MPH
Harms associated with gambling can have significant consequences for the gambler and their loved ones. Financial consequences are common, but little is known about the lived experience of financial harm from gambling. This week, The WAGER reviews a study by Sarah Marko and colleagues that explored how people who have been negatively impacted by their own or someone else’s gambling view and manage the financial risks and harms associated with gambling.
What were the research questions?
(1) How do people who have been negatively impacted by gambling perceive their risk of experiencing gambling-related financial harms?, and (2) How do they manage these financial harms?
What did the researchers do?
The researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 21 Australian adults (11 men and 10 women) who had been negatively financially impacted by their own gambling (gamblers) or someone else’s gambling (affected others). All participants had experienced housing-related financial problems associated with gambling. They were interviewed about their experiences. The researchers analyzed the interviews for common themes pertaining to financial risks and harms associated with gambling.
What did they find?
Most gamblers and affected others didn’t consider the potential risks of gambling until the monetary losses began impacting their lives, such as their ability to make essential payments like bills or rent. Early experiences of harm were not recognized because gambling was viewed as entertainment and as a social activity. Gamblers and affected others changed their money management behaviors to manage these impacts, including: (1) adjusting financial priorities and spending habits, (2) reducing spending in non-essential areas (e.g., house maintenance, social events), and (3) taking on debt to cover expenses. Some gamblers reached a point where the financial impacts became too unmanageable, and they redirected most of their money to gambling. Financial harms had long-lasting effects, including loss of housing due to eviction or foreclosure and trouble finding stable long-term housing due to factors like poor rental history or bad credit. Many gamblers and affected others tried to maintain an outward appearance of financial stability to conceal the extent of the negative impacts of gambling due to the stigma surrounding gambling problems and debt.
Figure. Quotations about the management of gambling-related financial harms among n =21 gamblers and affected others.
Why do these findings matter?
These findings demonstrate the complexity of gambling-related financial harms experienced by gamblers and affected others. Current messaging around the use of safer gambling strategies might contribute to the notion that gambling harm is something that can be managed by gambling ‘correctly’. It might also reinforce the stigma associated with gambling problems and debt. Public messaging about minimizing financial gambling harms should draw from lived experience and not focus solely on personal responsibility. For example, messaging could depict actual experiences of harm in people’s lives — a strategy used in other areas like tobacco control.
Every study has limitations. What are the limitations of this study?
Most participants were over the age of 40, so these findings might not be generalizable to other age groups. The study only included a small number of affected others, all of whom were women. Their experiences might vary depending on their relationship to the gambler; additional research is needed with a larger and more diverse sample of affected others.
Jan 11, 2024 | RESEARCH
Read the original article on The Basis HERE.
By Annette Siu
People with Gambling Disorder are more likely to experience clinical and health-related problems such as depression. People experiencing problem gambling might also be less likely to engage in prosocial behavior, potentially because they are singularly focused on their own gambling. They might also be more easily “primed” or conditioned by cues (e.g., seeing slot machine symbols, hearing clinking coins or chips) after exposure to positive experiences associated with gambling, which might make them more likely to continue gambling and experience problems. This week, The WAGER reviews a study by Javier Esparza-Reig and colleagues that examined relationships between problem gambling, prosocial behavior, and responses to priming, as well as well-known risk factors (depression and cognitive biases).
What were the research questions?
(1) Is problem gambling negatively associated with prosocial behavior? and (2) Is problem gambling positively associated with depression, susceptibility to priming in general, cognitive biases about gambling, and the maximum amount of money a person has wagered on gambling?
What did the researchers do?
The researchers recruited 258 students aged 18 – 26 from a university in Spain. To measure problem gambling, participants completed a Spanish-language version of the 20-item South Oaks Gambling Screen. Participants reported the maximum amount of money wagered on gambling at a single point in time and also completed measures of depressive symptoms, prosocial behavior, susceptibility to priming, and cognitive biases about gambling. To assess their susceptibility to priming1, participants completed a priming task that involved making decisions about economic issues. The researchers used Pearson correlations to analyze the relationships among these characteristics.
What did they find?
There was a statistically significant negative relationship between problem gambling and prosocial behavior (see Figure). This result indicates that higher levels of problem gambling were associated with lower levels of prosocial behavior. On the other hand, problem gambling was positively associated with depression, susceptibility to priming, cognitive biases about gambling, and maximum amount of money wagered.
Figure. The correlation coefficients for problem gambling and several mental health, social, and cognitive factors. Correlations are ranked from smallest to largest. Values closer to 0 indicate a weaker relationship, while negative values closer to -1 indicate a stronger negative relationship and positive values closer to +1 indicate a stronger positive relationship. All correlations were statistically significant.
Why do these findings matter?
The findings add more evidence to the notion that people with Gambling Disorder may be at increased risk of experiencing other psychopathological conditions, including depression. However, people experiencing problem gambling might also be more susceptible to social problems and priming effects, which can contribute to continued experiences of gambling problems. Thus, it is important to develop comprehensive prevention and intervention programs that include resources for improving social and cognitive wellbeing (e.g., mindfulness), in addition to mental health resources.
Every study has limitations. What are the limitations in this study?
This study was based on a small sample of university students in Spain, so the findings about problem gambling and psychosocial factors might not be generalizable to other demographic groups. The percentage of participants who scored in each range of the South Oaks Gambling Screen was not reported, so it is unclear whether the sample was disproportionately high (or low) in gambling-related problems. This study also primarily used self-report measures, so the results might be affected by social desirability and other biases.
1. Priming refers to being unconsciously influenced to act a certain way after being exposed to a certain prompt or stimulus, such as a word or image. For example, if someone is shown the word “doctor”, they will usually be able to identify more words related to medicine shown immediately after, such as “nurse”, as opposed to other non-medical-focused words. In this case, people experiencing problem gambling might be more susceptible to priming because they might be more strongly influenced by cues or stimuli to gamble, such as lights, sounds or smells associated with gambling.
Nov 29, 2023 | ABOUT MNAPG, ADVOCACY
Sonja Mertz, MNAPG community educator, and volunteer Dennis Alfton prepare to welcome conference registrants.
Cara Macksoud, CEO of Money Habitudes, and Alex De Marco, founder and CEO of MoneyStack, discussed the financial challenges facing problem gamblers. This included bringing awareness of financial counseling resources and tools available to support clinical work with clients, as well as learning how to use an assessment tool to have better conversations about money with clients.
Susan Sheridan Tucker, executive director of MNAPG, welcomes Jeffrey Wasserman (left), judicial outreach and development director for the Delaware Council on Gambling Problems, and Brian Hatch, peer recovery specialist for Bettor Choice. Jeffrey and Brian, cohosts of The Addicted Gambler’s Podcast, made a live recording of the podcast and touched on a wide range of problem gambling issues with an emphasis on lived experience.
Timothy Wong, MD, a professor of Psychiatry at the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, gave two presentations. The first looked at cultural values of gambling among Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) that contribute to gambling and problem gambling. The second presentation examined how the rapid expansion of sports betting has and will impact a person’s mind, body and brain functioning.
MNAPG staff gathered at the end of the conference. From left to right: Vicki Stark, contract designer, Sonja Mertz, MNAPG community educator, Bill Stein, contract writer, Susan Sheridan-Tucker, MNAPG executive director, and Eboun Wilbourn, MNAPG operations manager.
If you missed the conference or would like to take another look at a presentation, visit mnapg.org/conference, where you’ll find recordings of most of the presentations.
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Sonja Mertz, MNAPG community educator, and volunteer Dennis Alfton prepare to welcome conference registrants.
Cara Macksoud, CEO of Money Habitudes, and Alex De Marco, founder and CEO of MoneyStack, discussed the financial challenges facing problem gamblers. This included bringing awareness of financial counseling resources and tools available to support clinical work with clients, as well as learning how to use an assessment tool to have better conversations about money with clients.
Susan Sheridan Tucker, executive director of MNAPG, welcomes Jeffrey Wasserman (left), judicial outreach and development director for the Delaware Council on Gambling Problems, and Brian Hatch, peer recovery specialist for Bettor Choice. Jeffrey and Brian, cohosts of The Addicted Gambler’s Podcast, made a live recording of the podcast and touched on a wide range of problem gambling issues with an emphasis on lived experience.
Timothy Wong, MD, a professor of Psychiatry at the Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, gave two presentations. The first looked at cultural values of gambling among Asian American Pacific Islanders (AAPI) that contribute to gambling and problem gambling. The second presentation examined how the rapid expansion of sports betting has and will impact a person’s mind, body and brain functioning.
MNAPG staff gathered at the end of the conference. From left to right: