NCRG Conference to Offer Broad Perspective on Disordered Gambling
Health risks for casino employees, problem gambling issues among Native American communities, drug treatments for gambling and substance use disorders, and regulating gaming and its potential health consequences in a global economy are among the topics to be discussed at the fifth annual National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) Conference on Gambling and Addiction. The conference, which will take place Dec. 5-7 in Las Vegas, will offer a comprehensive examination of international responsible gaming issues from the public policy, industry, legal and scientific perspectives.
This year's event once again will allow representatives from the gaming industry and government to engage in dialogue with the world's leading scientific and clinical professionals. The conference will focus on new addiction research and the implications for managing the consequences of disordered gambling and other addictive disorders, featuring two distinct tracks aimed at examining advances in research and treatment, as well as practical applications for members of the gaming industry, gaming regulators, attorneys and elected officials. The "Scientific and Clinical" track is co-sponsored by the Institute for Research on Pathological Gambling and Related Disorders, a program at Harvard Medical School's Division on Addictions.
"With the debut of the dual-conference-track program last year, we made significant progress in developing a comprehensive public health approach to disordered gambling," said NCRG Chairman Dennis Eckart. "With the leading minds in science, government, gaming and other sectors coming together again this year, I have no doubt the discussion and collaboration that takes place at this event will have a dramatic affect on how we manage disordered gambling at a variety of levels."
Conference participants will be free to attend sessions from either track, allowing individuals to select the program elements most appropriate to their needs. Additionally, the conference will offer several plenary sessions open to everyone, featuring such topics as what genetics and brain scans tell us about gambling and substance use disorders, the history of luck in America, and gambling and health in Indian Country. The conference culminates in a town hall meeting with the goal of fostering discussion among representatives from every aspect of the gaming community that will lead to the creation of a comprehensive public health approach to disordered gambling.
As part of the 2004 conference, the NCRG also will hold its third annual Scientific Achievement Awards program to honor outstanding contributions to the study of gambling and gambling-related problems. Alex Blaszczynski, chair in psychology and director of the Gambling Research Unit at the University of Sydney, will receive the Senior Investigator Award, and Jon Grant, an assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University Medical School, will be the recipient of the Young Investigator Award.
For more information or to register for the conference, visit the NCRG Web site or contact Marcie Granahan, NCRG executive director, at 202-530-4704.
