APGSA Builds Communication Bridge Among Administrators
When Tim Christensen became program manager of Nebraska's new state-administered gamblers' assistance program in the late 1990s, he was unsure where to start. No guidelines or materials existed on how to develop a statewide approach to problem gambling, so Christensen did the only thing he could think of – he started calling around.
In the course of talking to other newly appointed state administrators of public funds for problem gambling services, Christensen found they all suffered from a similar dilemma: they lacked a central resource to guide development of the rapidly emerging field and a communications network to share ideas and experiences with their counterparts across the country.
In October 2000, Christensen and others created the Association of Problem Gambling Service Administrators (APGSA) to give administrators a way to communicate on the various issues that affect their profession.
"Lots of states were trying to develop service delivery systems, but there was no coordinating body among us," Christensen said. "Everyone was reinventing the same wheel. APGSA was a way we could all be more effective and efficient."
The growing organization, which at press time includes members from 12 states with federally funded problem gambling programs, serves as a forum for administrators to discuss the improvement of data gathering, reporting, research and public awareness efforts relative to problem gambling.
APGSA seeks to provide a unified voice to advocate for problem gambling services, develop best practices models for problem gambling service delivery in the public sector, and maintain an environment in which information is easily disseminated to those who need it. The organization also serves as a point of contact for entities seeking information on publicly funded problem gambling efforts. The organization's Web site at www.apgsa.org is the most comprehensive resource on the Internet for information about publicly funded problem gambling services, according to Christensen.
"We're working to determine as a group what is the right mix of services to provide and what elements we should all have in our programs," Christensen said. "In that way, our organization is especially beneficial for people working in states that are in the infancy of their program development. The more we collaborate, the more we can do."
