NCRG Broadens Reach with New Board Members
The National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) has broadened the knowledge base of its board of directors by electing a former lottery administrator, a Native American affairs expert and a former public official, all of whom have demonstrated a strong commitment to responsible gaming issues.
Jan Jones, a senior vice president at Harrah's Entertainment; Eileen Luna-Firebaugh, associate professor of American Indian studies at the University of Arizona; and Eric M. Turner, a former lottery administrator, were elected to the board at the organization's bi-annual meeting last month in Las Vegas.
As senior vice president of communications and government relations at Harrah's, Jones oversees Harrah's Code of Commitment responsible gaming program, as well as government relations, public relations, community relations, and other responsible gaming activities for 28 casinos across the country under the Harrah's, Showboat, Rio and Harveys brand names. Prior to joining the company in 1999, she served as the mayor of Las Vegas from 1991 until 1999.
Luna-Firebaugh, a member of the Choctaw/Cherokee tribe, focuses on law and public policy in the area of American Indian studies. Luna-Firebaugh is a member of the Arizona Office of Problem Gambling advisory board and the program advisory board of the Institute for Research on Pathological Gambling and Related Disorders. From 1998 to 1999, she served on the National Academy of Sciences Committee on the Social and Economic Impact of Pathological Gambling. She currently serves as a justice of the Appellate Court for the Colorado River Indian Tribal Court and as a tribal judge for the Sac River Band of the Chickamauga Cherokee.
Turner currently serves on the board of directors of the Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling and Scientific Games Corporation, a global marketing and technology leader in the lottery and pari-mutuel industries. He was the executive director of the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission from 1992 to 1995, during which time he was elected treasurer and secretary of the North American Association of State and Provincial Lotteries. In addition, he participated in the 1995 North American Think Tank on Youth Gambling Issues at Harvard Medical School.
"With more Americans than ever visiting Native American casinos and playing lotteries, it is important for us to be representative of the entire industry as it continues to evolve," said NCRG Chairman Dennis E. Eckart. "These new board members will help lead this organization into new directions that we hope will enhance our efforts to increase awareness of problem gaming."
