NCRG Expands Annual Conference
The National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) will hold its fourth annual NCRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction Dec. 7-9 at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
For the first time, the conference will be expanded to address the particular needs and interests of members of the gaming industry, gaming regulators, attorneys and elected officials. With previous conferences geared primarily to academics and health-care professionals in the addictive disorders field, this year's conference will offer a more comprehensive and practical agenda for a government and industry audience, in addition to the scientific and academic community.
The 2003 NCRG conference, "Regulating Addiction: How Individuals, Groups and Institutions Manage Excessive Behaviors," will offer two seminar tracks from which attendees can choose: "Government and Industry" and "Scientific and Clinical." Conference participants will be free to attend sessions from either track, allowing them to select the program elements most important to their needs.
The "Government and Industry" track will be tailored for the gaming industry, gaming regulators, attorneys and elected officials. Topics in this track will include worldwide responsible gaming practices, harm minimization features on gaming machines, state-funded treatment programs and gaming regulations. Speakers will include well-known names such as Phil Satre, chairman of Harrah's Entertainment, and Dennis Eckart, NCRG chairman and former six-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The "Scientific and Clinical" track, co-sponsored by the Institute for Research on Pathological Gambling and Related Disorders at Harvard Medical School's Division on Addictions, will be of special interest to clinicians, treatment providers and researchers in the field of problem gambling and substance-use disorders. The track will include topics such as self-guided therapy for problem gamblers and drinkers, how individuals regulate problems with alcohol and weight, and the role of 12-step programs in regulating behaviors. Presenters will include world-renowned scientists and researchers including Howard J. Shaffer, Ph.D., C.A.S., director of Harvard Medical School's Division on Addictions, and G. Alan Marlatt, Ph.D., professor of psychology, University of Washington in Seattle.
Additionally, the conference will offer several sessions open to all conference participants, including a town hall meeting to discuss the issue of personal responsibility versus government regulation. Other plenary sessions will focus on gambling from a public health perspective, the latest research on gambling and alcohol at U.S. colleges, and alcohol prevention models.
"The expansion of the NCRG annual conference is part of an overall initiative to enhance the center's educational programs and reach new audiences," Eckart said. "There is a vast amount of worthwhile information about disordered gambling that should be disseminated and shared beyond the scientific community. By expanding our conference to the gaming industry and government, we are, in essence, creating a whole new educational tool."
