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Chapter Ten A Personal View from the Gaming Industry Recognizing a Problem, Working Toward a Solution Tom Brosig An update on the progress made since this article was written in 1995–1996 is found at the conclusion of the chapter. I wrote this chapter for two reasons. First, I am from the gaming industry, and I believe the industry can do a great deal to help prevent youth gambling problems. Second , I have taken a proactive posture regarding the gaming industry’s response to problem-gambling issues involving young people and adults. I represent the new wave gaming executive, that is, one who does not have a long history working in the industry and who has taken steps to prevent problem gambling. In addition, my company’s casino operations are located in regions not typically known to allow such enterprises, such as Mille Lacs and Hinckley in northern Minnesota, Gulfport and Biloxi in Mississippi, and Marksville and Kinder in Louisiana. In the following sections, I tell how I became involved in the North American Think Tank on Youth Gambling Issues and discuss why initiatives of this type are important to the contemporary gaming industry. Some gaming industry executives have remained independent of social policy and research activities. In this chapter, I will demonstrate why that posture must change. Background I work for Grand Casinos Inc., which is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1991, the company now has more than ten thousand employees, operates six casinos in three states, and is constructing two additional casino resort properties. Our growth has been nothing short of phenomenal. In April 1995, we were identified by Fortune as the fastest growing company in America. If the company had selected Las Vegas as the location for its first casino, its arrival—and the five hundred new jobs it created—would have had little impact on that gambling mecca. In northern Minnesota , however, the opening of the first Grand Casino, in Mille Lacs, dramatically affected the communities within a forty-mile radius of the facility. This operation became responsible for a significant economic boom within the region, with similar results for the regions surrounding each of the other Grand Casinos. Yet not all of the effects of a new casino are positive. Our company’s founders were experienced with community issues surrounding new casino development. Therefore, it was only natural for our company to face problems and controversies head-on. The problems associated with compulsive and underage gambling represent two of the issues that Grand Casinos Inc. has confronted and continues to confront directly. My first exposure to problem gambling occurred during the summer of 1991, just three months after our first casino opened. I spent quite a bit of time on the casino floor in those early days. During that time, I began to notice some of the same faces again and again; these people were spending considerable amounts of time in the casino. I noticed that some of these people were poorly dressed and drove old cars, yet they would spend a great deal of time gambling. My initial attempts to slow their gambling habits were clumsy at best and generally ineffective. For example, I remember spending hours with tribal leaders discussing whether Native Americans living on or near the casino grounds would be at higher risk for developing compulsive gambling patterns. After all, there is a high incidence of alcohol abuse among this population, and some research has hinted there might be a high crossover rate among addictive behaviors. This possibility concerned me and the other executives at Grand Casinos Inc. These initial concerns convinced us to seek advice from a professional in the field of compulsive gambling research, prevention, and treatment. Consequently, I called Betty George, executive director of the North American Training Institute (formerly , the Minnesota Council on Compulsive Gambling), and asked her to present a seminar to our executive staff. We wanted to educate our staff regarding the characteristics and attributes associated with compulsive gambling, expose them to the dramatic negative effects a gambling disorder has on personal lives, and educate them about the various stages of problem gambling. Finally, as a gaming company, we wanted to determine exactly what we could do to prevent gambling problems. We wanted to behave responsibly and do the right thing. However, we were unsure of what, exactly, the “right thing” was. A Personal View from the Gaming Industry 209 [18.191.234.62] Project MUSE (2024-04-26 10:33 GMT...

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