NEW WEBSITES FOR LATINO AND ASIAN AUDIENCES

by Margot Cahoon, Communications Director, Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling

In an effort to make problem gambling information available to all people who need help, the Mass. Council has recently developed three new websites and a new brochure.

Last year, we launched www.asianproblemgambling.org in English and Chinese. This year, we have expanded it to include both Vietnamese and Khmer languages.  The website(s) includes information about problem gambling, specifically as it relates to Asian Americans. It also includes information about what the Council is doing to help people in these cultural communities, as well as local referrals for help.

We have also developed a new website for Latino audiences:

www.latinoproblemgambling.org. The site is available in both Spanish and English. It includes information about common cultural characteristics among Latinos and how these beliefs influence problem gambling.  The website also includes information about where Spanish-speaking individuals can find services to help address gambling problems.  In addition, the Council has developed a Spanish / English brochure, which is available for download off the website or by contacting the Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling at 617-426-4554 / info@masscompulsivegambling.org.

Please visit the websites when you get a moment. We would love to hear what you think.

Adolescent Brain Development and Gambling

by Amanda Poggenburg, Program Specialist, Prevention & Recovery, The Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling

On August 23^rd, I attended a webinar held by the National Center for Responsible Gaming entitled, “Adolescent Brain Development: Implications for Understanding Youth Gambling.” This webinar discussed the effects of gambling exposure on youth. It was very interesting in that it discussed how the brain develops and the possible link between brain development and youth gambling problems.

A brain is not mature until age 25, so if the average age youth begin gambling is 11, that leaves a lot of the development incomplete. An immature brain means that the youth is more open to taking risks. It also means that the brain doesn’t have good “brakes,” and that the “go” motivation develops faster than the “stop” motivation.

Early brain development is focused on motor development, emotions, and motivation while later brain development works on judgment. This means that if a youth begins gambling early on, he or she is more susceptible to developing a gambling problem because they might not know when to quit. As the brain is developing, this leaves youth more attracted to physical actions, high excitement and rewards, and novelties.

Novel stimuli release dopamine, which gives a feeling a pleasure or satisfaction, making such events more attractive to youth. What does all this have to do with youth and gambling? Youth are more willing to take risks for the reward of a dopamine burst, and they are less willing to consider the negative consequences or controlling their emotions. They have a tendency toward high excitement activities, a sensitivity to novel experiences, and they have less capacity for good judgment. All of these together make gambling very attractive to a developing brain, but very dangerous because of the lack of good judgment.

Links for further interest -

From The Journal on Gambling Studies:

 http://www.springerlink.com/content/m8g2724u70576530/

NCRG Archived Webinar:

 http://www.ncrg.org/public-education-and-outreach/webinars/archived-sessions

From Parenting for Prevention Newsletter, Tarrytown, NY: http://www.sascorp.org/PFPNewsletters/March__2011.pdf

HEALTH-E GAMBLING SUMMIT

by Marlene Warner, Executive Director, Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling

What do your cell phone; teenagers and health have to do with one another? Apparently, a great deal more than ever before…

In November, Jim Wuelfing, our Prevention Director, Marty Toomey, a K-12 prevention contingent employee, and I made a 24-hour trip to Las Vegas.  We had been asked to discuss our role in developing and our impressions of the new Health-E Gambling Tool being created between by the Division on Addictions at Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School (HMS/DOA) in collaboration with entities such as us (the Mass. Council on Compulsive Gambling), the Nevada Council and the University of Nevada at Las Vegas (UNLV) at the Health-E Gambling Summit.

Facilitated by UNLV, and paid for by The Lincy Institute, this day-long Summit served two purposes:

1. To introduce the topic of gambling disorders and the ways technology is impacting the topic, and

 2. To determine our weaknesses, strengths and biases when technology, health-studies and interventions are further explored.

The Health-E Gambling Tool is an innovative tool, modeled off others in substance abuse that will allow young people to be prompted by their smart phone to think about their gambling and whether their current behaviors warrant further personal investigation and change.  In addition, it takes you to a website that you can personalize—similar to facebook—that has resources and connections that fit your needs. 

The Mass. Council is encouraged by the response thus far.  This past spring focus groups were held at Medford and North Brookfield High Schools in Massachusetts. Students there helped to design and mold the language, feel and follow-up of this tool and the information it is trying to convey.  And most importantly, they feel like this is a tool that they will use and promote among their friends.

We feel that the Health-E Gambling Summit and tool are going to move this field a step closer to the revolution needed to end the stigma associated with gambling disorders and increase the knowledge and resources devoted to it. 

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