Striving For Balance: Oregon

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Striving For Balance Oregon Gambling

• Jeff Marotta, PhD
• Problem Gambling Solutions, Inc.

• Problem Gambling Prevention and Outreach Workshop
• Salem, Oregon
• June 21, 2007

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Goals for the session

• Part I Laying the foundation
• Understand Oregons approach towards gambling
• Part II Applying principles to practice
• Learn how to accomplish goals within system
• Learn the dos and donts

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Oregons Gambling Policy?

• Balance the production of needed revenue with
  minimizing harm to the public.

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Striving For Balance

• Revenue production tasked to Lottery
• Harm reduction tasked to DHS
• To sustain balance, must work together
  Challenges
• How to define balance
• How to best support each others mission while
  focus is on opposite ends of fulcrum

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Guiding Light

• Finding balance requires strategies backed by
  philosophical foundation.
• Need a conceptualization of the problem that fits
  current reality.

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Multiple Dimensions to Problem Gambling

• Host (Gambler) Agent (Gambling
  Device)
• -genetics/ -speed of play
  biology -bet size
• -coping style -control
• -psychological -stimulus load
• vulnerabilities -reinforcement
• -traits structure
• -knowledge/
• attitudes
• Environment
• Social culture, political culture, gaming
  venue, availability, economic circumstances,
  environmental stressors

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Philosophical Approach Public Health Paradigm

• By appreciating the multiple dimensions of
  gambling,

• OPGS have been developed to incorporate
  strategies to minimize harm while recognizing the
  reality of Oregons gambling policies.
• Context of availability, cultural acceptance, and
  economic reliance.

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What is a Public Health Model?

• Public health strategies historically have
  focused on the interactions among the host,
  agent, and environment.
• A public health paradigm invites a broad range of
  prevention and treatment interventions directed
  at various elements in the model
• The goal is improved health for the individual,
  family, and community.

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Why Use a Public Health Perspective?

• A public health position recognizes
• both costs and benefits associated
• with gambling.

• A public health perspective uses multiple vantage
  points to look at and understand gambling
  behavior.
• A public health perspective provides an expanded
  conceptualization of gambling, fostering
  integration and cooperation.

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Strategic Plan Oregon Problem Gambling Services
Oregon Problem Gambling Services

• Released September 19, 2000
• Influenced by
• Stepped-care approach to treatment
• Sobell Sobell (1999)
• Public health approach to gambling
• Korn Shaffer (1999)

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Public Health Framework to Problem Gambling
Interventions
Public Health Interventions
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Adoption of strategic goals for gambling

• preventing gambling-related problems
• protecting vulnerable groups
• promoting balanced and informed attitudes,
  behaviors, and policies

Korn, D., Shaffer, H. (1999). Gambling and the
health of the public Adopting a public health
perspective. Journal of Gambling Studies, 15,
289365.
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Endorsement of public health principles

• prevention is a community priority, with
  appropriate allocation of resources
• incorporating a mental health promotion approach
• fostering personal and social responsibility for
  gambling policies and practices

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Adoption of harm reduction strategies

• healthy-gambling guidelines for the general
  public
• vehicles for early identification
• flexible treatment goals
• surveillance and reporting systems

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Part II Applying principles to practice

• Learn how to accomplish goals within system
• Learn the dos and donts

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How to succeed in the OPGS system

• Plan your activities to fit
• within the public health
• framework

• Collaborate, form coalitions, develop
  partnerships
• Utilize your resources
• State produced resources (e.g., talk to Greta)
• Local expertise (e.g., talk with Wendy)

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Avoid Common Pitfalls

• Avoid using statements that
• alienated people or groups
• Do talk about problem gambling
• Dont talk about gambling addiction
• Do talk about gambling as a individual, family,
  and community health issue
• Dont talk about gambling prevention
• Do talk about individual choices
• Dont impose negative values about gambling

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Stay in line with statewide strategies

• Do promote statewide helpline
• Dont promote phone number of local treatment
  center
• Do utilize state produced marketing materials
• Dont produce materials off message
• Dont use Oregon Lottery logo
• Do promote healthy policy
• Dont lobby against gambling

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Putting it all together

• We need to work together in order to create
  balance and promote health in Oregon.

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Thank You

• Further information can be found at
• http//www.oregon.gov/DHS/addiction/gambling.shtm
  l