Easy E
08-02-2005, 11:14 AM
If anyone sees someone wearing one of these things, you have my permission to hit them with the closest chair. Or will these be useful bells around the necks of the fishies?
(if anyone can discover the % of the proceeds that actually make it to the NCRG, along with the administrative % costs applied at the NCRG, I'll be forever grateful)
<font color="blue">Orange bracelets being sold to help problem gamblers
ATLANTIC CITY - Reeling from her broken marriage, a sixty-something divorcee from Monmouth County turned to the casino blackjack tables in a risky bit of escapism. Now, five years later, she has blown her $2 million divorce settlement and is trying to overcome her addiction with the help of Gamblers Anonymous.
Ed Looney, executive director of the New Jersey Council on Compulsive Gambling, said the woman's downfall underscores the seedy side of the gaming industry - a problem, he claims, that the casinos haven't always been quick to acknowledge.
"If I were to grade them, most of them would get a failing mark," Looney said.
<font color="red">Casino executives, however, say they take gambling addiction seriously and have launched a new campaign to fight the problem.
Borrowing an idea from Tour de France cycling champion Lance Armstrong's cancer foundation, the industry will sell orange wristbands to raise money for education and research programs to help compulsive gamblers.</font>
Orange wristbands stamped with the words "Keep It Fun" are the centerpiece of a fund-raising and education campaign during Responsible Gaming Education Week from Aug. 1-5.
Proceeds from the sale of the $1 wristbands will be donated to the National Center for Responsible Gaming, or NCRG, for education and research programs benefiting compulsive gamblers in New Jersey and other casino jurisdictions, officials announced Monday while starting the campaign.
"We realize we have to build beyond research ... to actually intervene in constructive ways," Dennis Eckart, chairman of NCRG, said of the need for broad-based education and treatment programs.
Eckart joined with American Gaming Association president Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr. and MGM Mirage chairman and CEO Terry Lanni in Las Vegas to announce the wristband program. The bracelets can be bought online at www.americangaming.org. (http://www.americangaming.org.)
The campaign is built around the theme "We're Banding Together to Keep it Fun" and is inspired by the growing popularity of charity bracelets. Armstrong, a cancer survivor, started the trend last year with the sale of his foundation's yellow "Livestrong" wristbands.
Looney, speaking from his New Jersey office, characterized the wristband campaign as a good start, but argued that the casino industry must do more to fight compulsive gambling. He said the problem has exploded, leaving too little money for treatment programs provided by his organization.
"What is busting at the seams is funding for treatment," he said. "We're dead in the water."
The New Jersey Council on Compulsive Gambling, a private, nonprofit group, is funded primarily by fines paid by the casinos and money from the state's horseracing industry. Not all of the Atlantic City casinos participate in the council's funding program.
Fahrenkopf, Lanni and Eckart said the casino industry has demonstrated its commitment to combat compulsive gambling through its funding of the National Center for Responsible Gaming. They added that casinos also work with state groups and have their own in-house programs to spot gambling addicts.
In the last 10 years, casinos have contributed more than $15 million to Eckart's organization. The wristband campaign is expected to generate at least $130,000 in proceeds, officials said.
The full extent of compulsive gambling is anyone's guess. Fahrenkopf, whose American Gaming Association serves as a national lobbying group for the casino industry, put the figure at about 1 percent. Looney said 5 percent is the figure for Atlantic City's $4.6 billion-a-year gaming market, but said another 10 percent to 15 percent of New Jersey gamblers could be in danger of becoming addicts.
"That's his opinion," Fahrenkopf said, strongly disputing Looney's estimates.
As an example of how compulsive gambling cuts across all socio-economic lines, Looney cited the Monmouth County divorcee whose wealthy lifestyle was destroyed by her huge blackjack losses in Atlantic City. In between bouts in Gamblers Anonymous, she first lost about $450,000, then $350,000 and finally blew her $2 million divorce settlement, Looney said.
"The bottom line is, the casino host - and this is what really stuck in my crawl - knew the lady had a gambling problem and did nothing to help her," Looney said. "He promoted her gambling."
(if anyone can discover the % of the proceeds that actually make it to the NCRG, along with the administrative % costs applied at the NCRG, I'll be forever grateful)
<font color="blue">Orange bracelets being sold to help problem gamblers
ATLANTIC CITY - Reeling from her broken marriage, a sixty-something divorcee from Monmouth County turned to the casino blackjack tables in a risky bit of escapism. Now, five years later, she has blown her $2 million divorce settlement and is trying to overcome her addiction with the help of Gamblers Anonymous.
Ed Looney, executive director of the New Jersey Council on Compulsive Gambling, said the woman's downfall underscores the seedy side of the gaming industry - a problem, he claims, that the casinos haven't always been quick to acknowledge.
"If I were to grade them, most of them would get a failing mark," Looney said.
<font color="red">Casino executives, however, say they take gambling addiction seriously and have launched a new campaign to fight the problem.
Borrowing an idea from Tour de France cycling champion Lance Armstrong's cancer foundation, the industry will sell orange wristbands to raise money for education and research programs to help compulsive gamblers.</font>
Orange wristbands stamped with the words "Keep It Fun" are the centerpiece of a fund-raising and education campaign during Responsible Gaming Education Week from Aug. 1-5.
Proceeds from the sale of the $1 wristbands will be donated to the National Center for Responsible Gaming, or NCRG, for education and research programs benefiting compulsive gamblers in New Jersey and other casino jurisdictions, officials announced Monday while starting the campaign.
"We realize we have to build beyond research ... to actually intervene in constructive ways," Dennis Eckart, chairman of NCRG, said of the need for broad-based education and treatment programs.
Eckart joined with American Gaming Association president Frank J. Fahrenkopf Jr. and MGM Mirage chairman and CEO Terry Lanni in Las Vegas to announce the wristband program. The bracelets can be bought online at www.americangaming.org. (http://www.americangaming.org.)
The campaign is built around the theme "We're Banding Together to Keep it Fun" and is inspired by the growing popularity of charity bracelets. Armstrong, a cancer survivor, started the trend last year with the sale of his foundation's yellow "Livestrong" wristbands.
Looney, speaking from his New Jersey office, characterized the wristband campaign as a good start, but argued that the casino industry must do more to fight compulsive gambling. He said the problem has exploded, leaving too little money for treatment programs provided by his organization.
"What is busting at the seams is funding for treatment," he said. "We're dead in the water."
The New Jersey Council on Compulsive Gambling, a private, nonprofit group, is funded primarily by fines paid by the casinos and money from the state's horseracing industry. Not all of the Atlantic City casinos participate in the council's funding program.
Fahrenkopf, Lanni and Eckart said the casino industry has demonstrated its commitment to combat compulsive gambling through its funding of the National Center for Responsible Gaming. They added that casinos also work with state groups and have their own in-house programs to spot gambling addicts.
In the last 10 years, casinos have contributed more than $15 million to Eckart's organization. The wristband campaign is expected to generate at least $130,000 in proceeds, officials said.
The full extent of compulsive gambling is anyone's guess. Fahrenkopf, whose American Gaming Association serves as a national lobbying group for the casino industry, put the figure at about 1 percent. Looney said 5 percent is the figure for Atlantic City's $4.6 billion-a-year gaming market, but said another 10 percent to 15 percent of New Jersey gamblers could be in danger of becoming addicts.
"That's his opinion," Fahrenkopf said, strongly disputing Looney's estimates.
As an example of how compulsive gambling cuts across all socio-economic lines, Looney cited the Monmouth County divorcee whose wealthy lifestyle was destroyed by her huge blackjack losses in Atlantic City. In between bouts in Gamblers Anonymous, she first lost about $450,000, then $350,000 and finally blew her $2 million divorce settlement, Looney said.
"The bottom line is, the casino host - and this is what really stuck in my crawl - knew the lady had a gambling problem and did nothing to help her," Looney said. "He promoted her gambling."