The casino gaming industry has long implemented employee and public education programs to increase awareness of disordered gambling and promote responsible gaming practices, both at the company and industrywide levels. When the AGA was established in 1995, it built on the efforts individual companies already were undertaking to develop broad, industrywide responsible gaming programs.

Harrah's Entertainment, Inc., for example, has been a leader in this area, promoting responsible gaming since the early 1980s through its Operation Bet Smart© and Project 21© programs for patrons and employees. These programs have been so successful that Harrah's has licensed them to many other casino companies for use at their own properties.

In 1996, AGA members made history when they provided funding for the creation of the National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG), the first and only national organization exclusively devoted to funding peer-reviewed scientific research that helps increase understanding of pathological and youth gambling and finds effective methods of treatment for the disorder and to conducting public education about responsible gaming research.

To date, more than $22 million has been committed to the NCRG through contributions from the casino gaming industry, equipment manufacturers, vendors, related organizations and individuals. The NCRG funds groundbreaking research through the Institute for Research on Gambling Disorders, which conducts all of the NCRG’s grant-making and oversees grants to: the NCRG Centers of Excellence in Gambling Research at Yale University and the University of Minnesota; the Division on Addictions at Cambridge Health Alliance, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School; and individual researchers at prestigious institutions across the country. The NCRG also works with the Institute and the AGA to develop practical, real-world applications for research findings, such employee training and education tools, resources for parents and mentors, and reference guides for responsible gaming stakeholders.

Shortly after the creation of the NCRG, the AGA in 1997 created the Responsible Gaming National Education Campaign, an industrywide umbrella program focused on educating casino employees and the public about responsible gaming. This campaign, which continues to expand, includes a variety of elements. The AGA has created informational materials, such as the Responsible Gaming Resource Guide, the PROGRESS Kit, and the association’s flagship responsible gaming brochure, Keeping it Fun: A Guide to Responsible Gaming. As part of this effort, the AGA also has developed several public and employee education programs, such as Responsible Gaming Education Week (RGEW), held annually during the first week of August since 1998, and the Responsible Gaming Lecture Series, which launched in 2001 to bring responsible gaming experts to gaming jurisdictions nationwide.

In 2003, the AGA board of directors enacted the AGA Code of Conduct for Responsible Gaming, a complete set of guidelines governing employee and customer education, underage gambling, alcohol service, advertising and research. The code is a commitment to employees, patrons and the public to make responsible gaming an integral part of daily operations. All AGA member companies maintain their businesses in compliance with the code.

The AGA launched its most popular responsible gaming campaign to date, the “Keep it Fun” campaign, during Responsible Gaming Education Week 2005. The Keep it Fun campaign incorporates bright orange awareness wristbands that empower gaming industry employees, casino patrons and the public to show their support for the importance of responsible gaming awareness. Bearing the “Keep it Fun” message in either English or Spanish, more than 418, 500 wristbands were sold by year end 2006. Proceeds from the wristbands are donated to the NCRG, which has received more than $168,500 through the wristband program.