Connections: Healthy Gambling and Gaming

You may have heard that women are now nearly 50% of gamers, but that data generally includes all genres including mobile games.  When it comes to online multiplayer and first-person shooter games, it’s still very male-dominated.  What’s it like for women gamers in these settings?  Dr. McGinnis shares a fascinating view from her 20 years of experience as a female gamer, a researcher...

Connections welcomes Kelvin Peprah, MA, LMCH, advocate and therapist on cultural/racial identity issues with a passion in working with youth and students of color. We talk about how people of color are represented in video game characters, players, and streamers, and what kind of impacts this might have on young gamers.  As well as the opportunities and potential that the gaming industry has...

Pros and Cons of Telemental Health – How to make the most of it This episode is a playback of one of our earlier ECPG LIVE! episodes. If you missed it then, you can catch it now! Telemental Health services are now available more than ever before and it looks like they aren’t going away. They have some clear benefits, as well as some drawbacks. Whether you are trying to determine if virtual counsel...

Recap of 2021: Celebrating 2021 Successes and Discussing Hopes for 2022 Despite obstacles and hardships, 2021 was a productive year in the world of problem gambling awareness in WA state. Tana Russell and Maureen Greeley, with ECPG, chat with Roxane Waldron, Manager of the state Problem Gambling Program, to talk about what went well in 2021, and how they know it was actually successful....

You might have noticed a rise in sports betting advertisements when you go to watch your favorite game lately. Why is that? What is the industry doing to educate their staff and customers about responsible gaming and problem gambling, and provide resources for betting responsibly? Also, what can players use to bet smart, enjoy the game, and protect themselves?  Kara Fox-LaRose, ilani Casino a...

What exactly is a Social Casino and why have they faced so many legal challenges? Defining what it is, and what it is not, is part of the problem. A social casino may look like, sound like, and play like a traditional gambling game, just on a mobile device. Many people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a gambling site and a social casino site. Today’s episode is co-hosted by Jennifer...

The Story of Advocacy in the Aftermath of Suicide Ronda Hatefi, founder of Oregonians for Gambling Awareness and a true force of nature, shares her story of the loss of her brother to suicide due to gambling disorder in 1995, before anyone even knew to call it that.  Families across the country may relate to what her family went through as gambling took over her brother’s life and the afterma...

From apples to peaches we have Kristi Weeks with the Washington Lottery and Bradley Bohannon with the Georgia Lottery joining us to talk about what responsible gaming can look like for lotteries and their customers.  Corporate responsibility is critical for the industry, important to customers, and is actually great for business too. Related Links: Washington Lottery: https://www.walottery.co...

In a surprise ambush, we say goodbye to Julie Hynes as co-host of the Connections podcast. While we will miss her terribly, there is much excitement, and high expectations of what she can bring to the table in her new role on the road she now travels. Find out where she is going, what she’ll be doing, and how she’ll be working for problem gambling prevention in a new and impactful way.&n...

How does a state lottery promote Responsible Gaming?  Townley Cheek, Corporate Social Responsibility Manager at the North Carolina Education Lottery, talks about lessons learned in her career about effective Responsible Gaming and prevention messaging.  Find out what they are doing now, the data that shows that it’s working, and why customers like it. Referenced in this episode: https://...

Dave Yaegar: Military, Addiction, Recovery, and Advocacy US Army Veteran Dave Yeager now devotes his life to helping and advocating for those in recovery from gambling.  He is host of the podcast “ Fall In: The Problem Gambling Podcast for Military Service Members and Veterans ” .  He is also the author of a book sharing his story from addiction to gambling through slot machine rooms on...

Julie and Tana discuss the current trends in gaming and gambling convergence, including loot boxes and other monetization strategies within video games. They discuss a 2021 report from GambleAware (linked below) which reviews evidence that links loot boxes to problem gambling and problem video gaming, and provides recommendations for future policy. They discuss what video game warning labels mean,...

Guests on this episode are Amy Gabrila and Ray Fluette, two supervisors with Massachusetts GameSense, a program licensed by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission and operated by the Massachusetts Council on Gaming and Health. Amy and Ray’s workplaces are actually inside of two Massachusetts casinos. In this episode, they share how GameSense educates casino patrons and community members on myths and...

March is Problem Gambling Awareness Month (#PGAM) Problem Gambling Awareness Month (PGAM) is a time to increase public awareness of problem gambling and the availability of prevention, treatment, and recovery services, as well as to encourage healthcare providers to screen their clients for problem gambling and to make referrals for help services. Learn more about PGAM and what's happening in Oreg...

In this episode we interview Dr. Deborah Haskins, President of the Maryland Council on Problem Gambling and leader in social justice and equality advocacy work. Standing tall not just in height at 6’2”, Dr. Haskins is one of the truest advocates for Black voices in the problem gambling field and longtime advocate for integrating cultural diversity into mental health services. We could listen to Dr...

We interview Dr. Timothy Fong, Professor of Psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA and the Director of the UCLA Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship.  We are also honored to be joined by Dr. Lori Rugle, who prefers to be introduced as a white privileged, boomer generation, cisgendered, heterosexual, Buddhist woman of biological and adoptive eastern European a...

We interview Dr. Timothy Fong, Professor of Psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA and the Director of the UCLA Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship.  We are also honored to be joined by Dr. Lori Rugle, who prefers to be introduced as a white privileged, boomer generation, cisgendered, heterosexual, Buddhist woman of biological and adoptive eastern European a...

Join us next week as hosts Tana Russell and Julie Hynes recap 2020 with guests Dr. Lori Rugle, has over 36 years working with problem gambling, and Dr. Timothy Fong, Professor of Psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA and the Director of the UCLA Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship.  Together they look back on 2020 with a bag full of mixed emotions.  Tu...

We interview Jon, a successful graduate of the residential treatment program at reSTART Life, a center specializing in Behavioral Addictions and co-occurring conditions such as video gaming, compulsive tech use, gambling and more.  He talks to us about how his video game play started at a young age, turned into gambling inside video games, progressed through his teens and ended after one of t...

We catch up with Brain Hatch and Jeff Wasserman from All In: The Addicted Gambler’s Podcast who provide insight into what they have learned over several years of interviewing guests from across the nation and beyond. Together with host’s Tana Russell and Julie Hynes they discuss passions, podcasts and lessons learned from the world of gambling recovery. To make sure we can keep our podcasts easy t...

We catch up with Brain Hatch and Jeff Wasserman from All In: The Addicted Gambler’s Podcast who provide insight into what they have learned over several years of interviewing guests from across the nation and beyond. Together with host’s Tana Russell and Julie Hynes they discuss passions, podcasts and lessons learned from the world of gambling recovery. To make sure we can keep our podcasts easy t...

Welcome Maureen Greeley, Executive Director of the Evergreen Council on Problem Gambling, and Jeff Marrotta, board member of the Oregon Council on Problem Gambling as they tell us about the histories and missions of the Councils, as well as some fun facts you've probably never heard.  You'll also get to know the co-hosts of the podcast, and find out how Julie and Tana came into their current...