Session 1- Nebraska Gamblers Assistance Program

Jon Gayer Author

06/17/2025 Added

15 Plays

Description

For over 30 years, the Nebraska Gamblers Assistance Program has supported individuals and communities through education, prevention, and treatment of gambling-related harm. This session will explore the program’s history, the evolving understanding of gambling disorder, and lessons learned from working with Nebraskans.

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[00:00:00.000]with that i'll introduce our co-host
[00:00:03.760]to introduce our first speaker
[00:00:06.920]and we'll get rolling right
[00:00:08.610]away
[00:00:08.860]so mike turn it over to you hi
[00:00:11.210]everyone i'm mike chandra i am
[00:00:13.520]the executive director of the
[00:00:16.020]nebraska council on problem
[00:00:17.990]gambling and i've been very
[00:00:19.900]fortunate to work with john and
[00:00:22.050]work
[00:00:22.500]with everybody at the
[00:00:23.490]university of nebraska to help
[00:00:24.960]put this together this is
[00:00:26.160]something that's
[00:00:26.880]come together over the last few
[00:00:28.480]weeks and i've just been very
[00:00:30.010]blessed to have this
[00:00:31.020]opportunity
[00:00:31.800]to be a part of this as far as
[00:00:34.030]our first speaker today david
[00:00:36.560]is someone i've worked with
[00:00:38.900]over the
[00:00:39.740]past several years working in
[00:00:41.160]problem gambling treatment i've
[00:00:42.830]been very fortunate to get to
[00:00:44.180]know
[00:00:44.440]him as director of the nebraska
[00:00:46.220]gamblers assistance program david
[00:00:48.250]geyer has led this program with
[00:00:50.140]a
[00:00:50.240]keen eye to detail and strategy
[00:00:52.240]and all i can say is that a
[00:00:53.760]problem as a problem gambler
[00:00:55.600]and
[00:00:55.920]recovery myself
[00:00:56.840]the treatment provided through
[00:00:58.410]the gamblers assistance program
[00:01:00.050]has saved my life
[00:01:00.960]and i know that i'm not alone
[00:01:02.600]and today david will share some
[00:01:04.460]of his insights and data
[00:01:06.140]as the leader of gap and
[00:01:07.410]provide more insight into his
[00:01:09.110]role and with that i'll hand it
[00:01:10.790]over to david
[00:01:11.700]thanks mike and john good
[00:01:14.580]morning everybody um flattered
[00:01:17.860]by your introductions
[00:01:19.720]i'm here to talk about our gambler
[00:01:23.180]assistance program and you'll
[00:01:26.180]see on
[00:01:26.800]the somewhere in the literature
[00:01:28.960]here that i have the degree of
[00:01:31.120]jd ignore that and being a
[00:01:33.700]lawyer is
[00:01:34.340]just part of my background but
[00:01:36.880]what i do now is manage a state
[00:01:39.440]of nebraska program
[00:01:41.140]from our office here in lincoln
[00:01:44.150]what we do is mainly provide
[00:01:46.610]counseling services
[00:01:48.720]to people who are diagnosed
[00:01:51.450]with addiction to gambling it's
[00:01:54.150]called gambling disorder
[00:01:56.760]in the psychiatric literature
[00:02:00.440]our little program is one of
[00:02:01.940]about 43 or thereabouts
[00:02:04.560]around the united states where
[00:02:07.070]i think a little bit different
[00:02:09.300]from some of them in the sense
[00:02:11.660]that
[00:02:11.900]it's an independent program
[00:02:13.930]that is we're not dominated by
[00:02:16.040]either the governor's office or
[00:02:18.380]the legislature basically what
[00:02:20.740]we have to do is comply with a
[00:02:22.720]set of laws and deal with state
[00:02:25.100]policy but we have to comply
[00:02:26.540]with a set of laws and deal
[00:02:26.570]with state policy but we have
[00:02:26.610]to comply
[00:02:26.720]we do one thing only, and that
[00:02:28.220]is addiction to gambling. You
[00:02:30.160]see here that our annual budget's
[00:02:31.840]about $3 million. Two-thirds of
[00:02:34.140]it is devoted to the counseling
[00:02:36.090]service, and a big part of the
[00:02:37.960]rest
[00:02:38.180]of it is devoted to the process
[00:02:40.220]of training counselors to work
[00:02:42.400]in this field. So we train
[00:02:44.280]and certify, and we deal only
[00:02:46.590]with addiction to gambling. Out
[00:02:49.290]here in Nebraska, we've got
[00:02:51.600]loads
[00:02:52.000]of gambling. You know, years
[00:02:53.770]ago, when I first got involved
[00:02:55.480]in this program, there were a
[00:02:57.110]lot
[00:02:57.400]of people who said, well, we
[00:02:58.320]don't have any gambling in
[00:02:59.130]Nebraska. And I say, well, do
[00:03:00.800]you buy
[00:03:01.220]a lottery ticket? Well, yeah,
[00:03:03.290]but that's not, you know, they
[00:03:04.840]thought of gambling as slot
[00:03:06.340]machines
[00:03:06.960]in a casino. Well, today, 2025,
[00:03:10.900]here we are. We have a lot of
[00:03:13.300]it. You can see right here,
[00:03:15.940]I've laid it out a little bit.
[00:03:17.840]Pretty soon, there'll be 10,000
[00:03:20.790]opportunities,
[00:03:22.000]around our state, for people to
[00:03:23.820]put their money into a computer-driven
[00:03:26.040]video gaming device.
[00:03:27.500]We have four tribal casinos.
[00:03:30.190]These state-licensed racinos
[00:03:32.540]are coming on board. There are
[00:03:35.090]four of
[00:03:35.380]them open now. A couple more of
[00:03:37.000]them are in the works. I'm
[00:03:38.380]really interested in item five
[00:03:39.940]on this.
[00:03:40.500]You see the 55 organizations
[00:03:42.920]conducting bingo in Nebraska. I
[00:03:45.390]was really remembering bingo as
[00:03:48.240]a
[00:03:48.400]child. It's a child's game. We
[00:03:49.790]had a lot of fun playing bingo.
[00:03:51.200]Well,
[00:03:52.000]guess what? It's a big deal. In
[00:03:54.780]fact, Bill Harrah, who started
[00:03:57.940]the Harrah's Casino operation,
[00:04:00.200]which is a very big, now I
[00:04:02.180]think it's part of, connected
[00:04:04.660]to MGM. But anyway, Harrah
[00:04:07.140]started off
[00:04:08.140]with a bingo game in Reno,
[00:04:09.920]Nevada, back in the early 30s.
[00:04:12.300]That's where he began. Today,
[00:04:14.160]Foxwoods,
[00:04:15.500]an enormous casino operation in
[00:04:18.340]Connecticut, has a huge bingo
[00:04:20.640]game with,
[00:04:22.000]extremely big prize awards. So
[00:04:24.600]bingo itself is a significant
[00:04:27.610]gambling activity,
[00:04:29.360]highly regulated, regulated in
[00:04:31.950]Nebraska. We have it. We also
[00:04:33.980]have all the other things.
[00:04:36.040]Basically, we have everything
[00:04:38.210]you could do in gambling. We
[00:04:40.020]have it in Nebraska.
[00:04:41.560]I like to give people a bird's-eye
[00:04:44.650]view. This map shows you where
[00:04:47.640]it is.
[00:04:48.520]And the red dots on here,
[00:04:52.000]are places where there are
[00:04:55.480]various kinds of businesses,
[00:04:56.980]convenience stores, bars,
[00:04:59.730]restaurants, laundromats, have
[00:05:03.060]what we call, or what I call,
[00:05:05.560]gas station slot machines. They're
[00:05:08.300]kind of controversial around
[00:05:10.130]the country. Different
[00:05:11.540]states are having a hard time
[00:05:12.810]with it. But these are devices
[00:05:14.240]that resemble the slot machine
[00:05:16.060]you'll
[00:05:16.320]see in a casino. And they're
[00:05:18.090]located in all these locations.
[00:05:20.380]You see the blue stars on this
[00:05:21.920]map, and that is where the casinos
[00:05:23.960]are located. So again, we have
[00:05:25.760]border-to-border gambling
[00:05:27.740]of all kinds in our state. So
[00:05:30.520]what's our topic today? Well,
[00:05:33.930]again, because you cannot
[00:05:36.280]escape
[00:05:37.280]the subject of gambling. The
[00:05:39.340]growth of gambling has astonished
[00:05:43.040]a lot of people, actually.
[00:05:45.520]I think it's really taken off
[00:05:47.370]as a result of the Supreme
[00:05:48.990]Court decision back in 2018.
[00:05:51.780]But also, there's just been a
[00:05:53.280]big push to develop a full-blown
[00:05:55.930]casino operations. Now we have
[00:05:57.560]about a thousand state-licensed
[00:06:00.280]corporate casino operations in
[00:06:02.920]the United States,
[00:06:04.640]about five or six hundred
[00:06:05.820]tribal casinos. So we're
[00:06:07.420]approaching 2,000 brick-and-mortar
[00:06:10.240]casinos.
[00:06:11.040]Also, again, you see right here,
[00:06:13.680]I'm talking about this, casino
[00:06:16.040]in your pocket. That smartphone
[00:06:19.640]is the coming of the era of the
[00:06:20.900]internet. It's going to be the
[00:06:20.910]era of the internet. It's going
[00:06:20.920]to be the era of the internet.
[00:06:21.040]It's going to be the era of the
[00:06:21.250]internet. It's going to be the
[00:06:21.370]era of the internet. It's going
[00:06:21.640]to be the era of the internet.
[00:06:21.640]It's going to be the era of the
[00:06:21.640]internet. It's going to be the
[00:06:21.640]era of the internet. It's going
[00:06:21.640]to be the era of the internet.
[00:06:21.640]And so, you know,
[00:06:21.640]form of the casino. So we're
[00:06:24.410]going to be focusing on the
[00:06:26.700]types of gambling opportunities
[00:06:28.900]there are
[00:06:29.720]as a result of this inescapable
[00:06:32.060]promotion, the advertising,
[00:06:34.500]everywhere you go, everywhere
[00:06:36.560]you
[00:06:36.700]turn is gambling in one form or
[00:06:38.710]another. And as a matter of
[00:06:40.950]fact, what's really happened
[00:06:42.800]recently, especially I think,
[00:06:45.260]is that gambling has become
[00:06:47.190]normalized. It is a normal
[00:06:49.260]thing to do.
[00:06:50.880]Normal thing to go to the
[00:06:52.370]casino, normal thing to buy
[00:06:54.150]lottery tickets, normal thing
[00:06:56.480]to play
[00:06:57.100]on that little device in the
[00:06:58.480]laundromat while you're waiting
[00:07:00.160]for your dryer.
[00:07:01.080]It's just everywhere you go. Of
[00:07:04.580]course, it's touted as a fun
[00:07:07.790]form of recreation.
[00:07:10.060]But the enticement, the inducement
[00:07:12.310]is not just the recreation, it's
[00:07:14.330]the money.
[00:07:15.200]We know it's the money aspect.
[00:07:17.050]That's what we deal with in our
[00:07:18.790]program.
[00:07:20.120]And that's what we think that
[00:07:21.750]you all should be thinking
[00:07:24.440]about.
[00:07:25.320]How is gambling defined? This
[00:07:27.990]is an issue that we run into
[00:07:30.180]all the time too. And that is,
[00:07:32.920]there are people who claim that
[00:07:35.480]if you do a certain thing, it
[00:07:37.980]is not gambling because it
[00:07:40.080]involves skill. We've heard
[00:07:42.720]this year after year about
[00:07:44.970]poker. People who play poker
[00:07:47.610]say, well, it's not
[00:07:49.360]gambling. It takes great skill
[00:07:51.990]to be a winner at poker. Well,
[00:07:54.570]everybody in the gambling
[00:07:55.720]businesses
[00:07:56.840]sees poker as gambling. There's
[00:07:59.580]not much litigation about it. I
[00:08:02.580]talk about my lawyer hat
[00:08:04.340]here. But the Nebraska Supreme
[00:08:06.720]Court a few years ago agreed
[00:08:08.670]with a lower court that said,
[00:08:10.740]you cannot change the initial
[00:08:13.270]deal. The deal of the deck is
[00:08:16.080]where the gamble comes in. It's
[00:08:18.600]unpredictable. Now, what I'm
[00:08:21.300]showing you here on the screen
[00:08:23.020]is definitions of gambling.
[00:08:25.560]These are
[00:08:27.140]just two examples of the kinds
[00:08:29.140]of, let's say, linguistic contortions
[00:08:31.940]that people go through
[00:08:33.540]to come up with a way of
[00:08:35.550]defining the term gambling.
[00:08:38.570]They've had a hard time with it.
[00:08:40.380]That probably because gambling
[00:08:43.190]has been a subject of law in
[00:08:44.970]the United States since the
[00:08:47.340]beginning,
[00:08:48.600]but especially in the 19th
[00:08:50.670]century when gambling was, let's
[00:08:53.600]say, it was prohibited for the
[00:08:55.600]most part
[00:08:56.200]in large parts of the country
[00:08:58.170]because there were a lot of
[00:08:59.980]scandals and lots of problems
[00:09:02.140]going on
[00:09:02.500]with gambling earlier in the 19th
[00:09:05.440]century. So as time went by,
[00:09:07.600]many states, many parts of the
[00:09:09.320]country just forbid gambling.
[00:09:11.480]In fact, in Nebraska, in 1875,
[00:09:14.230]gambling was prohibited totally.
[00:09:16.710]Now, of course,
[00:09:18.600]it's not the case today, but
[00:09:20.460]along the way, there have been
[00:09:21.890]all these struggles to define
[00:09:24.260]the term
[00:09:24.980]gambling, decide what kind of
[00:09:27.590]activity does it apply to. You
[00:09:29.310]can see here, too, with these
[00:09:31.420]two
[00:09:31.780]definitions that I've shown you.
[00:09:33.680]The top one is from the
[00:09:34.810]psychiatric profession, and
[00:09:36.580]they talk
[00:09:37.040]about risk and hope, risk and
[00:09:38.900]hope. The legislature now, they
[00:09:41.520]talk about, from a legalistic
[00:09:43.730]standpoint,
[00:09:44.300]bets and chances. So these are
[00:09:47.620]the two,
[00:09:48.600]main features of most of the
[00:09:51.060]gambling that we deal with
[00:09:52.220]today, risking or betting in
[00:09:55.070]hope or
[00:09:55.680]taking a chance. These two
[00:09:58.090]definitions kind of illustrate
[00:10:01.100]one way of defining the concept
[00:10:03.520]of gambling. So I like to ask
[00:10:05.930]people to think about different
[00:10:08.570]activities and think about
[00:10:11.260]whether
[00:10:11.500]or not something is or is not
[00:10:13.950]gambling. Now, I'm not going to
[00:10:17.130]ask you to tell me
[00:10:18.600]your answers to this, but I
[00:10:19.870]want you to think about this.
[00:10:21.480]You think to yourself. I'm
[00:10:23.020]going to
[00:10:23.240]talk down through this list of
[00:10:25.180]six here so we can see what you
[00:10:27.020]all think about whether or not
[00:10:28.770]these
[00:10:29.080]activities are gambling based
[00:10:30.920]upon the definition that I've
[00:10:32.680]just talked about. The first
[00:10:34.480]one is,
[00:10:35.800]this is a favorite of Warren
[00:10:37.290]Buffett, the Berkshire Hathaway
[00:10:39.160]wizard from Omaha.
[00:10:40.440]He's talked about for years
[00:10:42.950]wishing that somebody who's
[00:10:45.330]employed in one of his Berkshire
[00:10:48.040]Hathaway
[00:10:48.600]companies could win a million
[00:10:51.660]dollars by selecting every
[00:10:54.040]winning team in every game of
[00:10:56.640]the NCAA's
[00:10:57.720]spring championship tournament.
[00:11:00.060]Now, over the years, he found
[00:11:01.880]that nobody could do that.
[00:11:03.640]Nobody went all the way through
[00:11:05.620]every single game, so he kept tinkering
[00:11:08.170]with it until he came up with a
[00:11:09.980]way of giving, making it less
[00:11:11.640]difficult and somebody finally
[00:11:13.620]won some money. But the trick
[00:11:15.520]here, item one on this, is that
[00:11:17.610]it's free.
[00:11:18.600]If you're going to play the
[00:11:20.280]game, you're an employee in Berkshire
[00:11:23.000]Hathaway, and you do not have
[00:11:24.760]to spend any of your money in
[00:11:26.720]order to do this. So you're not
[00:11:28.420]risking money. You're just
[00:11:30.790]playing a game. Now, what Mr.
[00:11:33.600]Buffett has done is kind of
[00:11:35.450]mixed up concept of gambling
[00:11:37.940]and risk with fun. So just so
[00:11:42.080]you know, he's a fervent
[00:11:44.920]opponent of organized gambling.
[00:11:48.600]In fact, he's spoken outwardly
[00:11:50.810]about it more than once. So he's
[00:11:54.080]not a fan of casinos, but he
[00:11:58.940]certainly does have fun with
[00:12:01.000]his March Madness bracket game.
[00:12:03.800]Item two on there, buying
[00:12:05.730]crypto. Now, cryptocurrency is,
[00:12:08.620]of course, a big subject matter
[00:12:10.660]today. And again, Warren Buffett
[00:12:13.120]or people in the investment
[00:12:15.140]field, a lot of them say that
[00:12:17.220]it's a gamble.
[00:12:18.600]It's a casino. You buy this.
[00:12:21.660]You're gambling with your money.
[00:12:24.770]Well, again, this is me. But
[00:12:28.150]when you buy crypto, you spend
[00:12:31.010]some money to acquire the token.
[00:12:34.520]But what the token is worth is
[00:12:37.260]based upon a market. Like
[00:12:40.550]anything else you invest in,
[00:12:43.090]you buy it for a price. You
[00:12:45.710]hold it.
[00:12:46.500]It's worth what you could.
[00:12:48.600]You can get for it if you go to
[00:12:49.750]sell it. Well, again, now you're
[00:12:51.330]in a market. If you buy it
[00:12:52.970]today, is it going to be worth
[00:12:55.110]the same thing in a week or a
[00:12:56.700]month or a year?
[00:12:57.980]That's based on markets, not
[00:13:00.780]based on the kind of algorithmic
[00:13:03.800]chance calculations that are
[00:13:06.610]involved in organized gambling
[00:13:09.800]that we deal with today.
[00:13:12.240]Item three, day trading. Again,
[00:13:14.920]it's an activity involving
[00:13:16.930]stock markets.
[00:13:18.600]Market investments, largely. We've
[00:13:20.900]heard a lot about what's called
[00:13:23.260]zero-day options trading.
[00:13:25.880]These are contract transactions
[00:13:29.130]on the last day before an
[00:13:31.490]option contract will expire.
[00:13:34.160]There's a lot of back-and-forth
[00:13:36.320]trading of these, and people
[00:13:38.320]are trying to make some money
[00:13:40.240]with very short turnaround,
[00:13:42.230]putting some money into it,
[00:13:44.590]hoping to be able to sell it
[00:13:46.060]and get out of it quickly.
[00:13:47.660]Again.
[00:13:48.600]There's a lot of back-and-forth
[00:13:48.600]trading of these, and people
[00:13:48.600]are trying to make some money
[00:13:48.600]with very short turnaround,
[00:13:48.600]putting some money into it,
[00:13:48.600]hoping to be able to sell it
[00:13:48.600]and get out of it quickly.
[00:13:48.760]It's based upon a market. It's
[00:13:50.920]not based upon a computerized
[00:13:53.760]algorithm that we see, we'll
[00:13:55.910]talk about in a few minutes,
[00:13:57.870]like with a slot machine.
[00:13:59.680]Planting a corn crop, number
[00:14:02.060]four on here.
[00:14:03.080]You know, a few years ago, a
[00:14:04.740]member of the Nebraska
[00:14:06.070]legislature, on the floor of
[00:14:07.800]the legislature, said, well,
[00:14:09.720]farmers gamble every year when
[00:14:11.540]they plant a crop.
[00:14:12.820]Well, that's true.
[00:14:14.080]They do.
[00:14:15.300]There's a big element of risk
[00:14:17.030]and gambling involved.
[00:14:18.600]In farming.
[00:14:19.780]However, again, it's a business
[00:14:22.470]decision whether to plant a
[00:14:24.620]crop.
[00:14:25.360]It's a business decision how
[00:14:27.620]much to spend on seed,
[00:14:29.180]chemicals, fuel, everything
[00:14:31.370]else that goes into farming,
[00:14:33.450]and also judging what that crop
[00:14:35.740]may be worth when you harvest
[00:14:37.930]the corn six or eight months
[00:14:39.870]from now.
[00:14:40.920]So, again, there's an element
[00:14:43.460]of a gamble, sure, but it is
[00:14:45.820]not the kind of gambling.
[00:14:48.440]At least in our Nebraska Gambler
[00:14:50.260]Assistance Program that we are
[00:14:52.000]concerned about.
[00:14:53.200]Playing pinball, number five.
[00:14:56.380]This is a mechanical game.
[00:14:58.140]The ability to win or lose in
[00:15:00.900]pinball is partly based upon
[00:15:03.780]the way the machine is set up.
[00:15:07.000]These machines have adjustable
[00:15:09.230]features to them that influence
[00:15:11.420]whether or not players are
[00:15:13.270]going to be able to succeed.
[00:15:15.420]But again,
[00:15:18.280]not our view that this is
[00:15:20.170]gambling.
[00:15:20.940]Although I'll tell you that a
[00:15:22.110]few years ago, the Nebraska
[00:15:23.710]Supreme Court did rule that if
[00:15:26.120]you have a chance to win a free
[00:15:27.930]game playing pinball, that's
[00:15:30.230]gambling.
[00:15:31.200]Now, it goes on now, and I don't
[00:15:33.200]think anybody loses any sleep
[00:15:35.330]over whether a pinball machine
[00:15:37.760]is a gambling device.
[00:15:39.600]But still, it has an element of
[00:15:43.110]risk.
[00:15:44.120]Not much.
[00:15:45.620]Item six.
[00:15:48.120]Item six is an item that I
[00:15:49.700]really want to talk with you
[00:15:50.750]about more and kind of focus on.
[00:15:52.680]And that is the parlay.
[00:15:54.560]The parlay bet in sporting
[00:15:57.070]events.
[00:15:57.820]Now, this is clearly a gamble.
[00:16:00.740]And as a matter of fact, again,
[00:16:03.200]to the bookies, this has become
[00:16:05.960]their favorite.
[00:16:06.920]Because they have the ability
[00:16:09.690]to increase their profit margin
[00:16:12.480]by enticing gamblers to make
[00:16:14.960]these parlay bets.
[00:16:16.720]So, item six.
[00:16:18.600]Out of this list of six on here,
[00:16:20.230]I'm going to say absolutely,
[00:16:22.290]this one is without a doubt
[00:16:24.130]gambling.
[00:16:25.200]Now, your students in college
[00:16:28.320]are going to tell you that it
[00:16:31.320]takes great skill to be a smart
[00:16:34.070]bettor in a sporting gamble.
[00:16:37.220]Well, the most skillful people
[00:16:40.310]are the bookies.
[00:16:42.180]They have all the knowledge.
[00:16:44.600]They have all the computing
[00:16:45.990]horsepower.
[00:16:47.960]In a parlay bet, they are using
[00:16:50.400]their computers to run
[00:16:52.220]simulations in these games.
[00:16:54.800]They've got more horsepower
[00:16:56.260]than any college student could
[00:16:57.850]ever have.
[00:16:58.600]And they know everything about
[00:17:00.680]what's going on.
[00:17:01.980]Yet, even at that, with all
[00:17:03.780]that advantage they have, they
[00:17:05.910]do not win 100% of the time.
[00:17:08.060]It is a mixture of skill and
[00:17:11.820]luck, risk, chance.
[00:17:14.940]There's no question about that.
[00:17:16.540]You cannot predict.
[00:17:17.800]You cannot predict the outcome
[00:17:19.350]of an athlete's performance
[00:17:20.660]with absolute certainty.
[00:17:22.900]There's always a question of
[00:17:24.480]probability.
[00:17:25.420]Who would have thought that
[00:17:27.780]Carlos would have pulled it out
[00:17:30.210]in Paris after going down two
[00:17:32.900]sets to zero?
[00:17:34.320]Or who would have thought that
[00:17:36.340]the Chiefs would have been
[00:17:38.220]humiliated in the Super Bowl?
[00:17:40.460]That shows you these things
[00:17:42.840]illustrate the chance element.
[00:17:47.640]It makes it impossible to
[00:17:48.930]predict with certainty what's
[00:17:50.540]going to happen in a sporting
[00:17:51.800]event.
[00:17:52.280]Now, I'm going to give you a
[00:17:53.980]little bit more about these parlay
[00:17:56.130]bets.
[00:17:56.520]Because I think it's important
[00:17:58.480]to understand this.
[00:17:59.960]Because these are becoming a
[00:18:01.880]favorite of amateur gamblers.
[00:18:04.180]So, a parlay bet is a list of
[00:18:06.860]events.
[00:18:07.680]Now, look what I've listed here.
[00:18:09.040]I've got six different events.
[00:18:10.460]It doesn't matter what they are.
[00:18:11.940]They can all be in the same
[00:18:13.200]game.
[00:18:13.660]They can involve separate
[00:18:14.960]different players in different
[00:18:16.550]games.
[00:18:17.480]different sports, any number of
[00:18:19.260]things. The booking companies
[00:18:21.500]are mix and match. Take what
[00:18:24.080]you want. So I'm thinking in
[00:18:26.110]the mind of a student, and I'm
[00:18:28.460]thinking, okay, I'm looking at
[00:18:30.560]this first
[00:18:31.600]bet, and I think I'm going to
[00:18:33.370]be right. I have a 75% chance
[00:18:35.560]of being right. 80% on the
[00:18:37.520]second one.
[00:18:38.560]Go down the list. Every one of
[00:18:40.120]them is better than 50-50.
[00:18:42.040]Every one of them. Look at that.
[00:18:44.520]They all look like this is
[00:18:46.340]really, really a good
[00:18:47.600]combination of bets that I
[00:18:49.370]should make.
[00:18:50.120]And if I average them, it comes
[00:18:52.810]up to 70%. This looks like,
[00:18:56.090]like I say, almost a sure thing.
[00:18:58.180]But when you're looking at it
[00:18:59.870]from the standpoint of the
[00:19:01.570]corporate gambling interest,
[00:19:03.420]the bookmakers that are behind
[00:19:05.170]this, they don't think about it
[00:19:06.980]in terms of those averages.
[00:19:08.760]Even if they calculated the
[00:19:11.000]chances the way they're shown
[00:19:13.440]on here,
[00:19:14.520]they're going to calculate the
[00:19:16.010]probability of all six
[00:19:17.100]happening. All six, like I show
[00:19:20.460]you on here.
[00:19:21.440]This is a calculation of
[00:19:23.350]probability based upon known
[00:19:25.750]probability calculations
[00:19:28.020]in the mathematical fields. And
[00:19:31.430]the bookmakers, excuse me, and
[00:19:34.340]the commercial gambling
[00:19:36.780]industry
[00:19:37.480]are experts at probability.
[00:19:39.680]Here, this shows you then that
[00:19:41.770]what appears to be
[00:19:43.700]a 70% chance of winning a bet
[00:19:47.480]turns out to be barely over 10%
[00:19:49.990]chance.
[00:19:50.600]Now, the bookmakers will entice
[00:19:53.960]a lot of amateur bets with gambles
[00:19:56.970]like this.
[00:19:57.920]An awful lot of times, a
[00:19:59.660]student, your student is going
[00:20:02.030]to say, I'll put $10 on this.
[00:20:05.070]It's no
[00:20:05.340]big deal. Some other people are
[00:20:07.860]going to put a lot of money on
[00:20:09.820]it. And for the most part,
[00:20:12.880]a lot of them are going to lose.
[00:20:13.910]So, I'm talking to you here
[00:20:17.940]about the beginning gambler,
[00:20:19.720]because I'm assuming that,
[00:20:22.450]again, in most of our
[00:20:24.430]experiences with college
[00:20:26.310]students, especially,
[00:20:27.620]we're talking about people who
[00:20:29.380]are just getting started with
[00:20:31.070]their gambling.
[00:20:32.220]They're not even of age in a
[00:20:34.610]lot of areas. But our
[00:20:36.400]observation here in Nebraska,
[00:20:39.160]in our program,
[00:20:42.060]is just what I say. The gambler
[00:20:44.400]starting out now is going to be
[00:20:46.570]the problem gambler
[00:20:48.140]coming down the line. And I'm
[00:20:51.420]going to show you here these
[00:20:53.320]two lines on this graph.
[00:20:55.740]The red line on the bottom is
[00:20:58.280]the age when people first
[00:21:00.730]gamble. So, when somebody comes
[00:21:04.060]into one of
[00:21:04.580]our program counseling offices,
[00:21:06.620]we ask them a lot of questions
[00:21:08.300]and we accumulate this data.
[00:21:11.240]This shows you that over the
[00:21:13.040]years, over 10 years, this is a
[00:21:15.630]couple thousand gamblers.
[00:21:17.220]They told us that the median,
[00:21:20.840]about, you know, the midline,
[00:21:24.940]half of them
[00:21:26.860]were above or half of them
[00:21:29.070]below, started gambling by
[00:21:31.720]about the age of 18 to 20,
[00:21:34.780]somewhere in there. But look at
[00:21:37.420]the blue line on top. That's
[00:21:39.780]how old they were,
[00:21:41.240]when they got into enough
[00:21:42.910]trouble to decide that they
[00:21:45.460]needed to go see a counselor to
[00:21:47.240]get some help.
[00:21:47.780]Now, this gap from start to
[00:21:52.760]counseling, about 20 years, has
[00:21:58.440]held true in Nebraska here over
[00:22:02.220]the
[00:22:02.360]past 10 years, over the years
[00:22:04.610]that gambling has expanded and
[00:22:06.640]evolved in our state. I can
[00:22:09.840]break it
[00:22:10.400]down a little bit for you. I'm
[00:22:10.730]going to show you a little bit
[00:22:11.030]of a graph. And I'm going to
[00:22:11.220]show you
[00:22:11.220]it for you too. Here you see
[00:22:13.620]the people who are admitted
[00:22:15.230]into counseling. They're coming
[00:22:17.900]in for
[00:22:18.100]help when they're in their late
[00:22:21.350]20s, 30s, 40s. 28% of them are
[00:22:26.870]in the 26 to 35 age bracket.
[00:22:31.040]But if
[00:22:31.580]you look, you stretch it out a
[00:22:34.460]little bit, 73% of the people
[00:22:36.780]who seek help for gambling
[00:22:38.930]problems
[00:22:39.800]are in the age bracket. And
[00:22:41.200]that's a lot of people. And
[00:22:41.200]that's a lot of people. And
[00:22:41.200]that's a lot of
[00:22:41.200]people in this age group. When
[00:22:43.570]they should be at their peak,
[00:22:45.550]they should be at the best
[00:22:47.440]stage of
[00:22:47.980]their life. They should be
[00:22:50.140]building a family, a career,
[00:22:52.470]getting progress toward success
[00:22:55.100]in life.
[00:22:55.920]Instead, here they are coming
[00:22:57.740]for help because they become
[00:22:59.420]addicted to gambling.
[00:23:00.940]Here's where they started out.
[00:23:04.100]Those same people, that's when
[00:23:07.600]they came to us for help,
[00:23:11.180]that's when they started. Look
[00:23:15.060]at the big bulge before age 21.
[00:23:21.450]78% of 2,000 clients in the
[00:23:25.700]Nebraska program started
[00:23:27.900]gambling before they were 21
[00:23:30.610]years old. And 56% of them
[00:23:33.490]before they were 18.
[00:23:34.980]Look at them down to the age 10
[00:23:36.580]and under.
[00:23:40.360]Starting early, getting in
[00:23:42.340]trouble late. How does that
[00:23:44.590]happen?
[00:23:45.380]We think, again, part of it,
[00:23:49.360]normalizing gambling. And when
[00:23:52.660]it's normalized,
[00:23:54.220]here's what happens to the gambler.
[00:23:57.120]Operant conditioning. Now,
[00:24:00.760]those of you with a
[00:24:01.640]background in psychology may
[00:24:04.640]think of Pavlov's dogs. You
[00:24:07.630]know, ring the bell,
[00:24:10.360]and they salivate. There was a
[00:24:13.620]psychologist back in the 50s,
[00:24:19.520]Dr. Skinner, and he
[00:24:22.490]demonstrated how
[00:24:24.200]you could get rats and pigeons
[00:24:27.950]to persistently and addictively
[00:24:32.550]try to peck and get a reward
[00:24:35.460]if you did it in uncertain
[00:24:39.120]amounts,
[00:24:40.360]at unpredictable times. And
[00:24:42.610]this operant conditioning is an
[00:24:46.080]effect on the human brain
[00:24:48.080]that is, may well be, just a
[00:24:51.390]function of the overall concept
[00:24:54.070]of mathematical probability.
[00:24:57.020]Because if you have true
[00:25:00.140]probability with a set of
[00:25:02.810]random numbers,
[00:25:04.660]it is really difficult to know
[00:25:07.280]which number is going to be
[00:25:09.710]true.
[00:25:10.340]What's going to come up next?
[00:25:11.220]So, random number generating,
[00:25:14.820]random numbers,
[00:25:15.900]uncertain probability leads to
[00:25:19.330]operant conditioning. And that
[00:25:23.050]is, the gambler
[00:25:25.160]keeps trying over and over
[00:25:27.480]again, because the next time I'm
[00:25:30.430]going to win. And that's
[00:25:32.240]the cognitive distortion, the
[00:25:34.900]gambler's fallacy. And that is
[00:25:37.440]the thought process,
[00:25:39.520]which is, well, the coin came
[00:25:42.840]up heads eight times in a row.
[00:25:45.790]The next one has to be tails.
[00:25:48.060]Well, it doesn't. But that
[00:25:51.180]displays an ignorance of, again,
[00:25:53.820]the concepts of probability
[00:25:56.100]versus certainty. And that
[00:26:00.080]permeates everything in
[00:26:03.290]organized gambling. So, these
[00:26:06.550]characteristics of what is
[00:26:07.990]going on,
[00:26:08.620]when someone gambles, then
[00:26:11.190]interact with what are called
[00:26:13.200]the neurotransmitters. That is,
[00:26:15.580]the functioning of the human
[00:26:17.370]brain. This has been
[00:26:19.780]investigated at great length by
[00:26:22.940]people in
[00:26:23.420]neuropsych, brain science, and
[00:26:26.630]they're kind of narrowing it
[00:26:29.300]down to these. These are
[00:26:32.440]natural
[00:26:32.780]chemicals in your brain. And
[00:26:34.950]the way these interact with
[00:26:36.560]your activity, it leads to
[00:26:39.100]addiction.
[00:26:40.200]The American Psychiatric
[00:26:42.900]Association has defined what we
[00:26:45.490]now call gambling disorder.
[00:26:48.190]This is the
[00:26:49.940]essential feature as they
[00:26:52.590]define it. From our standpoint,
[00:26:56.210]it is the person continues to
[00:26:59.460]perform
[00:27:00.080]this activity, even after it
[00:27:04.070]has caused them great harm. The
[00:27:07.120]harm is often mostly financial,
[00:27:10.560]but not entirely. It harms
[00:27:13.440]families, personal
[00:27:15.630]relationships. People are enticed
[00:27:18.710]to get into
[00:27:19.520]crime, all kinds of things. But
[00:27:21.860]the main thing is the recurrent
[00:27:23.820]maladaptive behavior. That is,
[00:27:26.200]behavior that goes on even
[00:27:28.760]though
[00:27:29.400]it's not working. And it's not
[00:27:33.780]promoting the good life that
[00:27:35.940]people wish they would have.
[00:27:37.320]What are we going to do about
[00:27:38.960]it? Well, this is your problem.
[00:27:43.020]I've been around too long to
[00:27:48.660]know
[00:27:48.900]how to deal with today's
[00:27:50.840]college age or high school age
[00:27:53.280]students. That's up to people
[00:27:56.940]who are closer
[00:27:58.080]to them and who know how to
[00:27:59.480]deal with it. Education, though,
[00:28:02.310]is about the only thing
[00:28:03.960]we can hope to do. And that is
[00:28:06.160]teach the young people what
[00:28:10.510]they're getting into when they
[00:28:13.670]do this,
[00:28:14.100]teach them how to understand it,
[00:28:17.120]to decide whether or not they
[00:28:19.590]want to do it.
[00:28:21.000]I have believed for an awful
[00:28:23.780]long time that our young
[00:28:28.080]people don't want to be
[00:28:30.080]deceived. They don't like it
[00:28:32.870]when old people like me lie to
[00:28:37.800]them.
[00:28:38.640]They don't want to be misled.
[00:28:41.080]So what should they know about
[00:28:45.600]gambling? They should know the
[00:28:48.120]truth.
[00:28:48.360]That's all. Now, if they know
[00:28:50.520]the truth and they decide to do
[00:28:52.520]it, that's up to them. They're
[00:28:55.070]free
[00:28:55.560]to do it. But the truth is
[00:28:57.540]really the only weapon we have.
[00:28:59.930]First of all, they need to
[00:29:03.180]understand
[00:29:03.600]that gambling is not just
[00:29:05.380]harmless fun and entertainment.
[00:29:08.060]I've already talked to you a
[00:29:10.080]bit about some of the problems
[00:29:11.380]that people have. We'll get
[00:29:12.710]into that a bit.
[00:29:13.560]Also, is it a smart way to make
[00:29:16.100]money? There are surveys that
[00:29:18.870]are done of college and high
[00:29:22.510]school age.
[00:29:23.820]And one of the questions is
[00:29:25.640]whether or not you believe that
[00:29:28.030]gambling is a good way to make
[00:29:30.120]money
[00:29:30.300]for your retirement. Now, if
[00:29:32.260]you ask that question of people
[00:29:34.740]my age, they all say no. But if
[00:29:37.920]you ask
[00:29:38.280]that question of younger people,
[00:29:40.910]a surprising share of them,
[00:29:43.220]maybe as much as a third will
[00:29:45.240]say,
[00:29:45.420]oh, yeah, I think that's a good
[00:29:46.770]idea. It's a smart way to make
[00:29:48.070]money. I'll gamble. Well,
[00:29:50.220]everybody in the industry,
[00:29:53.820]will say, don't count on this
[00:29:56.940]as a way to make money. We want
[00:29:59.800]you to be entertained. We want
[00:30:01.620]you to have fun. We want you to
[00:30:03.180]enjoy the possibility of
[00:30:04.450]winning some money. We want
[00:30:06.900]you to enjoy the whole
[00:30:08.690]experience. But don't count on
[00:30:11.320]this as a way to make a lot of
[00:30:13.410]money,
[00:30:13.980]because it is not likely to
[00:30:16.240]happen. It might. In fact,
[00:30:19.010]Steve Wynn, some years ago,
[00:30:21.720]talking about
[00:30:22.680]the roulette wheel.
[00:30:23.820]In this casino, he said, look,
[00:30:25.120]I want somebody to win.
[00:30:27.160]Somebody's going to win. I want
[00:30:29.280]people to
[00:30:29.760]win. But I also know that for
[00:30:31.900]the most part, they're not
[00:30:33.730]going to. But that's a decision
[00:30:36.120]they
[00:30:36.960]have to make. But is it a smart
[00:30:39.980]way to make money with no work
[00:30:43.640]at all? Well, that's doubtful.
[00:30:48.460]So,
[00:30:49.680]is it harmless?
[00:30:52.740]We already talked about it a
[00:30:53.780]bit. You know, I mentioned this
[00:30:55.070]already. Addiction to gambling
[00:30:58.140]has no early warning signs. You
[00:31:00.940]can look around in your student
[00:31:03.600]populations. You will not be
[00:31:05.880]able
[00:31:06.000]to spot a budding gambling
[00:31:08.430]addict. And as a matter of fact,
[00:31:11.600]it doesn't really necessarily
[00:31:14.520]even have any outward signs
[00:31:16.630]when it is full-fledged
[00:31:18.140]addiction. We've had the
[00:31:20.070]experience
[00:31:21.000]in the Nebraska program.
[00:31:22.740]serious gamblers, people with
[00:31:26.270]serious problems, doctor,
[00:31:29.740]lawyer, pharmacist,
[00:31:32.240]member of our state legislature,
[00:31:36.010]bank loan officer, bookkeeper
[00:31:39.680]in a small business.
[00:31:42.480]These people don't look like
[00:31:45.190]they have an addiction problem.
[00:31:48.540]You can't tell it by looking at
[00:31:51.120]them.
[00:31:52.740]In fact, what I told a state
[00:31:54.440]senator a few years ago, I said,
[00:31:57.480]Senator, that gambler looks
[00:31:59.390]like you
[00:32:00.080]or me. We don't know from
[00:32:02.220]looking at him. Not only does
[00:32:04.760]it have no outward signs when
[00:32:06.870]it's
[00:32:07.300]in full-fledged gambling
[00:32:09.280]trouble, but also no early
[00:32:11.350]warning signs. You can't know
[00:32:13.860]if your student is going to
[00:32:16.280]become a gambling addict any
[00:32:18.040]more than you can know if they're
[00:32:21.060]going to be successful at
[00:32:21.940]anything in life.
[00:32:22.740]You just have to do the best
[00:32:25.920]you can to educate themselves.
[00:32:28.700]No matter how much
[00:32:30.850]psychological science,
[00:32:32.700]psychiatric science, and
[00:32:34.280]neuroscience have
[00:32:35.840]studied this phenomenon and
[00:32:38.330]other addictions, nobody knows
[00:32:41.230]for sure why people get into
[00:32:44.200]deep
[00:32:44.460]trouble. Others avoid it. Why
[00:32:47.510]can some people have a few
[00:32:49.590]alcoholic drinks with no
[00:32:51.610]problem?
[00:32:52.740]Others go off the deep end. Why
[00:32:55.640]can some people gamble, have
[00:32:58.470]fun, go home, enjoy the rest of
[00:33:01.580]life?
[00:33:01.900]Others cannot. Nobody knows for
[00:33:05.530]sure why this is so. We just
[00:33:09.500]have to face the reality that
[00:33:12.920]we don't
[00:33:13.300]know, and we can't know, and we
[00:33:15.630]can't predict it ahead of time.
[00:33:18.060]People with gambling disorder
[00:33:20.440]present with the whole picture
[00:33:20.850]of gambling disorder. They don't
[00:33:21.330]know. They don't know. They don't
[00:33:21.890]know.
[00:33:22.040]The whole array of problems.
[00:33:23.690]These are the most predictable
[00:33:26.290]and the most frequently cited,
[00:33:28.900]and that, of course, is
[00:33:30.300]financial, but emotional, legal
[00:33:34.300]problems, stealing money.
[00:33:38.740]Suicide is a major issue in
[00:33:41.820]this subject matter. In
[00:33:44.900]Nebraska, about 5% of the
[00:33:48.410]people who present
[00:33:49.380]for counseling service have
[00:33:50.300]thought that they're going to
[00:33:51.240]be able to get a job. They're
[00:33:52.020]going to
[00:33:52.020]that suicide was the only way
[00:33:54.670]out, so they gave it a try.
[00:33:57.810]About 25% have thought of it,
[00:34:00.910]but at least
[00:34:01.300]did not attempt it, but still,
[00:34:04.290]very high rates of suicide
[00:34:06.890]thinking and attempts. Easy
[00:34:10.280]money. Is it an
[00:34:11.880]easy way to make money? Well,
[00:34:14.610]again, we have no animosity to
[00:34:17.260]the gambling industry. We're
[00:34:19.990]not trying to stop people from
[00:34:21.620]gambling.
[00:34:21.980]We're not trying to stop people
[00:34:21.980]from gambling. We're not trying
[00:34:21.980]to stop people from gambling.
[00:34:22.000]at all. It is not crooked. It
[00:34:25.970]is not rigged up. You know,
[00:34:27.470]people think, oh, it's all rigged.
[00:34:29.160]Well,
[00:34:29.760]no, that's not true, but it is
[00:34:32.970]carefully engineered, very
[00:34:34.880]carefully organized to be
[00:34:37.920]certain that the promoter of
[00:34:39.660]the gambling business is making
[00:34:41.710]a profit. After all,
[00:34:43.220]if you go to the casino, you
[00:34:46.020]don't have to pay a ticket to
[00:34:48.590]get in the door. Now, if you go
[00:34:51.250]to a
[00:34:51.980]community, there's a ticket.
[00:34:53.110]You've got to pay at the ticket
[00:34:54.510]window. Ball game, whatever.
[00:34:56.920]These kinds
[00:34:58.020]of, those kinds of
[00:34:59.190]entertainment activities
[00:35:00.910]require you to pay for them up
[00:35:02.550]front. When you go to the
[00:35:04.220]casino, not at all. Somehow or
[00:35:06.970]other, though, in the process
[00:35:08.860]of operating the games, the
[00:35:11.020]promoter
[00:35:11.640]is in it to make a profit. How
[00:35:14.740]do they do it? Well, some gamblers
[00:35:18.160]will win, some a lot, but most
[00:35:21.960]will lose some or all. This is
[00:35:24.160]a principle that permeates all
[00:35:26.390]forms of gambling. The lottery
[00:35:29.000]is
[00:35:29.240]really a good example of that.
[00:35:31.170]If you think about the parable,
[00:35:33.640]hundreds of millions of tickets
[00:35:34.840]are
[00:35:35.060]sold. And by far, most of the
[00:35:37.720]people who buy a ticket win
[00:35:40.590]nothing. The lottery accumulates
[00:35:43.310]a lot
[00:35:43.760]of money in order to let a few
[00:35:46.640]can win the big jackpot prizes.
[00:35:50.110]And the lottery accumulates a
[00:35:51.940]lot of money in order to let a
[00:35:52.870]few win. And this is all very
[00:35:53.720]sophisticated technology. It's
[00:35:55.620]based
[00:35:55.940]upon the higher mathematics of
[00:35:59.500]probability. You know,
[00:36:02.570]probability is an amazing and
[00:36:06.000]interesting
[00:36:06.360]subject matter. The study of
[00:36:08.470]probability by mathematicians
[00:36:10.670]actually began a few hundred
[00:36:12.720]years ago at the insistence of
[00:36:14.830]a gambler. There was a gambler,
[00:36:17.260]I think, in England, maybe. I
[00:36:21.920]don't know why. He couldn't
[00:36:23.170]make more money gambling. He
[00:36:24.470]wanted to make more money at it.
[00:36:27.180]So
[00:36:27.240]he talked to a scientist that
[00:36:29.500]he knew. These are pretty
[00:36:31.240]famous scientists. Anyway, how
[00:36:34.070]can I do
[00:36:34.620]this? Well, that started the
[00:36:36.310]scientist thinking in those
[00:36:37.980]days, mathematics is all key to
[00:36:39.520]that.
[00:36:40.060]How can we predict the
[00:36:42.290]probability or likelihood of an
[00:36:45.670]event when we don't know for
[00:36:48.320]certain that
[00:36:51.900]it probably will happen,
[00:36:54.200]probably sooner or later. But
[00:36:57.050]do we know for sure when? We
[00:36:58.900]don't.
[00:36:59.520]So let's develop the
[00:37:01.050]mathematics of probability. And
[00:37:03.750]probability is the key to
[00:37:05.640]everything.
[00:37:06.860]Now, I like the example of the
[00:37:09.200]roulette wheel just because it's
[00:37:11.420]such a familiar
[00:37:12.620]image. You think of the roulette
[00:37:15.580]wheel in a casino. When you
[00:37:17.980]look at the wheel,
[00:37:19.740]you see that there are red and
[00:37:21.900]black pockets and green pockets
[00:37:24.770]where the ball can drop in
[00:37:26.320]when it spins around. 18 red,
[00:37:29.030]18 black, 2 green. This is the
[00:37:31.900]American roulette wheel pattern.
[00:37:34.680]And if the ball goes on a green
[00:37:37.080]pocket, every bet loses. So
[00:37:39.650]that means, in other words,
[00:37:42.040]that if you bet on red, you
[00:37:45.430]have, what, 18 chances
[00:37:48.980]to win the game. And if you bet
[00:37:49.720]on green, you have 18 chances
[00:37:49.720]to win the game.
[00:37:49.720]And 20 chances to lose. And
[00:37:53.890]that's the mathematics of the
[00:37:55.640]roulette wheel.
[00:37:56.780]And that, again, nobody knows
[00:37:58.350]where the ball is going to drop.
[00:38:00.050]But it's going to drop for
[00:38:02.740]certain
[00:38:03.140]in one of those 38 pockets. But
[00:38:06.080]the mathematics of it assure
[00:38:08.100]the casino
[00:38:08.980]that they're going to win 53%
[00:38:11.480]of the times that the wheel is
[00:38:13.640]spun.
[00:38:14.300]One of the other things we talk
[00:38:17.550]about with betting is, you know,
[00:38:19.700]betting, especially, again,
[00:38:20.670]with sports betting, is it
[00:38:23.240]makes it so much more fun to be
[00:38:24.950]engaged in
[00:38:25.520]the game. I don't bet on sports.
[00:38:28.340]I love to watch baseball
[00:38:30.450]because of the skill that it
[00:38:32.400]takes.
[00:38:33.240]Or tennis, the level of skill
[00:38:35.250]of these athletes. You can
[00:38:37.180]cheer for the athlete. You can
[00:38:39.650]cheer for
[00:38:39.980]the skill. You can cheer
[00:38:41.870]because of the intricacy of the
[00:38:43.980]11 men on the football team and
[00:38:46.430]how they
[00:38:47.080]all have to do their assigned
[00:38:48.690]task.
[00:38:49.700]But what happens when you add
[00:38:52.120]gambling to it?
[00:38:52.940]You're seeing some of this in
[00:38:55.460]the news.
[00:38:56.560]Professional golfer being heckled
[00:39:01.090]at the tee by a gambler who's
[00:39:04.150]talking about how he's got a
[00:39:05.470]bet on
[00:39:05.940]him. How are you going to play
[00:39:07.730]this hole? Threatens the
[00:39:10.270]coaches. The athletes are
[00:39:13.100]getting threatened.
[00:39:13.720]People are getting these
[00:39:15.230]messages. I know where you live.
[00:39:19.680]become unpleasant for a lot of
[00:39:23.780]people. Is that fun? Is that
[00:39:25.950]your idea of fun?
[00:39:27.380]When you can do this kind of,
[00:39:28.870]when you can risk this kind of
[00:39:30.430]thing happening.
[00:39:31.580]And trust in the game. You know,
[00:39:34.540]for years and years, the
[00:39:36.990]athletic entities, the
[00:39:39.910]professional
[00:39:40.520]leagues, the NCAA, they all
[00:39:42.310]walk, talk about, oh, we can't
[00:39:44.300]have gambling. That really was
[00:39:46.310]behind
[00:39:46.880]that law. It was called PASPA
[00:39:49.070]that was enacted years ago by
[00:39:51.090]the Congress. That is to say,
[00:39:53.460]wait a minute, we want to
[00:39:55.360]protect the integrity of the
[00:39:57.540]sport. This is the Olympic
[00:39:59.820]message,
[00:40:00.980]the integrity of the athletic
[00:40:03.230]competition. Now, you're seeing
[00:40:05.620]in the news pretty frequently
[00:40:08.280]that there's, oh, there's
[00:40:10.340]somebody, somebody's been
[00:40:12.410]arrested. The baseball coach is
[00:40:14.990]trying to
[00:40:15.720]get some...
[00:40:16.880]Wagers placed on a game because
[00:40:18.550]he's got some inside
[00:40:19.650]information. A professional
[00:40:21.880]basketball
[00:40:22.880]player checking out of the game,
[00:40:26.080]claiming to be injured in order
[00:40:28.860]to make his buddies win their
[00:40:31.620]prop bets. These kinds of
[00:40:33.460]things are happening. And I'm
[00:40:35.360]telling you, it's happening
[00:40:37.260]more than we
[00:40:38.180]know. There are serious people
[00:40:40.770]in law enforcement, including
[00:40:43.000]our FBI, that are focusing on
[00:40:45.500]the risk
[00:40:46.320]that this is going to have. And
[00:40:46.860]I'm telling you, it's happening
[00:40:46.860]more than we know.
[00:40:46.880]It's going to increase, and it
[00:40:48.600]erodes the trust in the game.
[00:40:50.330]Is that fun? Does that make it
[00:40:52.260]more
[00:40:52.460]fun to watch the game if you
[00:40:54.450]suspect that somebody's not
[00:40:56.630]playing to their full potential
[00:40:59.200]because they've got a side bet
[00:41:01.860]going on? I ask the question. I
[00:41:04.960]don't know the answer.
[00:41:07.320]What happens to somebody when
[00:41:09.770]they get into trouble because
[00:41:12.100]of their gambling? These are
[00:41:15.200]some of the things we hear from...
[00:41:16.880]Clients when they come into our
[00:41:18.050]counseling services. For the
[00:41:20.730]most part, by the time somebody
[00:41:22.940]gets to the point of seeing a
[00:41:25.090]counselor, they are really
[00:41:26.400]desperate. That 20-year time
[00:41:28.780]span
[00:41:29.180]between start of gambling and
[00:41:31.060]seeking help, they've been
[00:41:33.190]gambling pretty persistently
[00:41:34.900]over those years, off and on,
[00:41:36.870]but getting in worse and worse
[00:41:38.540]trouble. By the time they get
[00:41:41.160]to the counselor's office, they
[00:41:43.050]are desperate. They want help.
[00:41:45.320]Help me stop doing this.
[00:41:46.880]This quote here, this is word
[00:41:48.380]for word from a gambler. I don't
[00:41:50.060]know why I did it. She knew
[00:41:52.720]what
[00:41:53.160]was going to happen, but she
[00:41:54.590]went in and she cannot explain
[00:41:56.270]why she did what she did, but
[00:41:58.240]she
[00:41:58.400]did it. She did it anyway.
[00:42:00.390]People say repeatedly, I can't
[00:42:02.620]quit. They come in, they've
[00:42:04.640]stolen money,
[00:42:05.720]stole from their employer. They've
[00:42:09.110]taken embezzled. I mean, it's a
[00:42:12.160]real problem. And this is what
[00:42:14.440]happens when gambling gets out
[00:42:15.270]of control. It's a real problem.
[00:42:16.190]It's a real problem. It's a
[00:42:16.860]real
[00:42:16.880]problem. It's out of sight, out
[00:42:19.020]of wine, out of control. People
[00:42:21.250]are ashamed. They're
[00:42:22.860]embarrassed.
[00:42:23.420]We think this prevents a lot of
[00:42:25.050]people from even coming forward.
[00:42:27.050]They're too ashamed with what
[00:42:28.920]they've done. They just cannot
[00:42:31.770]bear the stigma of admitting
[00:42:34.010]that they've done this, that
[00:42:36.750]they've
[00:42:37.040]gotten into such trouble. So
[00:42:39.240]what do we do with counseling
[00:42:41.280]when people come in? It's very
[00:42:44.640]difficult. It's very difficult
[00:42:45.390]to work with them. It's very
[00:42:46.080]difficult to work with them. It's
[00:42:46.860]very
[00:42:46.860]difficult to work with this
[00:42:48.230]form of addiction, mainly
[00:42:49.580]because gambling, of course,
[00:42:51.150]again, is so
[00:42:51.980]pervasive. The counselor,
[00:42:55.700]though, is there to help the
[00:42:59.490]client, not tell the client,
[00:43:02.920]you have to be
[00:43:04.720]what I want you to be, but we
[00:43:07.200]have to help you be what you
[00:43:09.610]want to be. We have to help you
[00:43:11.950]work your
[00:43:12.620]way through these stages of
[00:43:14.710]change. Where are you? Where
[00:43:16.840]are you? Where are you? Where
[00:43:16.840]are you?
[00:43:16.840]We meet you where you are. Are
[00:43:18.700]you ready to move ahead? Are
[00:43:20.570]you ready to change your life?
[00:43:22.640]If you're ready, we're here to
[00:43:24.470]help you. We'll help you with
[00:43:26.560]some strategies. We'll help you
[00:43:28.260]with some ideas, some ways you
[00:43:30.270]can get away from doing this.
[00:43:32.280]It's not easy. In fact, again,
[00:43:34.840]we have people who are trying
[00:43:36.690]to get rid of the gambling
[00:43:38.280]habit. Every time they go in
[00:43:40.220]the gas
[00:43:40.780]station, there's a device there.
[00:43:43.090]They can't escape it. It's very,
[00:43:45.390]very difficult.
[00:43:46.820]But with a counselor, they try
[00:43:48.990]to work that individual through
[00:43:51.470]stages of change. This
[00:43:53.500]theory is called a trans-theoretical
[00:43:56.700]model, has been developed by
[00:43:59.200]psychologists to try to give a
[00:44:02.040]frame of reference to a
[00:44:03.760]therapist. This is how you can
[00:44:05.590]work your people through the
[00:44:07.680]solution to
[00:44:08.440]their problems. How does it
[00:44:10.870]help? Well, again, start off by
[00:44:13.060]recognizing that the client has
[00:44:15.440]a
[00:44:16.800]problem. It's not a, you know,
[00:44:18.660]for long months, for so long,
[00:44:20.340]weak will, oh, you're immoral.
[00:44:22.270]You
[00:44:22.580]don't, you know, you don't, it's
[00:44:23.830]all your fault. Just quit doing
[00:44:25.040]it. Just quit doing that. Well,
[00:44:26.900]we know no more than it ever
[00:44:29.390]worked with drugs. You know,
[00:44:32.370]just say no to drugs. How'd
[00:44:34.960]that work
[00:44:35.520]out? Same thing's going to work
[00:44:37.480]with gambling. It's just not
[00:44:39.300]going to work to just tell
[00:44:40.850]people
[00:44:41.240]quit doing that. So counselors
[00:44:44.040]use a variety of approaches.
[00:44:46.780]These are some of them, CBT,
[00:44:49.080]motivational interviewing.
[00:44:51.400]There's a long list of
[00:44:53.270]theoretical
[00:44:53.620]approaches to counseling. What
[00:44:56.140]counts most is just the
[00:44:57.790]relationship between the
[00:44:59.710]counselor
[00:45:00.540]and the client. If they have a
[00:45:02.690]good relationship, then they
[00:45:04.700]can make some headway toward
[00:45:06.820]solving the
[00:45:07.500]problem by whatever method the
[00:45:10.040]counselor works with. We think
[00:45:12.700]it's a public health disorder.
[00:45:15.480]We are a public
[00:45:16.760]program here at the Nebraska
[00:45:18.820]Gambler Assistance Office. We
[00:45:21.220]use public money to help with a
[00:45:23.510]problem
[00:45:23.920]that results from decisions
[00:45:26.890]made by state policymakers.
[00:45:30.060]Somebody decided at the state
[00:45:32.860]level, we should be promoting
[00:45:35.590]these kinds of activities. When
[00:45:38.270]there was a petition drive,
[00:45:40.740]the public was told, we're
[00:45:42.510]going to have casinos. We're
[00:45:44.850]going to bring in a lot of
[00:45:46.740]money to help you with your
[00:45:48.380]property tax bill. It's a
[00:45:51.310]public decision made by the
[00:45:54.620]public when
[00:45:55.140]they sign a petition, made by
[00:45:56.950]the public when they vote, made
[00:45:58.720]by the representatives in the
[00:46:01.060]legislature. This is a public
[00:46:03.510]decision to promote an activity
[00:46:05.860]to generate money for
[00:46:08.120]government
[00:46:08.500]businesses. So public should
[00:46:11.510]take charge. And this is a, we
[00:46:14.260]want it to be considered to
[00:46:16.720]be a problem affecting the
[00:46:20.300]whole of society. So what are
[00:46:23.430]we going to do about it? Well,
[00:46:25.540]I think,
[00:46:25.940]again, truth, education, pull
[00:46:29.140]back the curtain. I love Frank
[00:46:32.270]Morgan and the Wizard of Oz.
[00:46:35.050]Pay no
[00:46:35.880]attention to that man behind
[00:46:37.440]the curtain. But the fact is,
[00:46:39.180]the man behind the curtain is
[00:46:41.150]the man
[00:46:41.660]operating the casino, the slot
[00:46:43.680]machine. The best example of
[00:46:45.430]that is the man operating the
[00:46:46.700]casino.
[00:46:46.700]The best example we have of
[00:46:49.030]progress toward dealing with a
[00:46:51.400]behavioral problem is smoking
[00:46:53.820]tobacco,
[00:46:54.400]addiction to nicotine. Over
[00:46:57.180]many, many years, with the
[00:46:59.580]effort of many, many people at
[00:47:01.450]all levels,
[00:47:03.000]both medical, scientific, legal,
[00:47:06.840]Congress, courts, all of it,
[00:47:10.490]education, there's been
[00:47:12.720]significant progress to deal
[00:47:15.560]with that
[00:47:16.680]problem of nicotine addiction.
[00:47:18.800]It's the best example we have
[00:47:20.620]of a whole of society effort
[00:47:23.280]to deal with a problem.
[00:47:25.270]Education, regulation, consumer
[00:47:28.860]protection. Let people know
[00:47:30.730]what's
[00:47:31.400]really going on. Teaching young
[00:47:33.960]people about how gambling
[00:47:35.850]really works. What are the true
[00:47:38.360]odds of
[00:47:38.900]winning? Let them find out for
[00:47:41.140]themselves if they want to do
[00:47:43.100]it. But give them the
[00:47:44.960]information they
[00:47:46.000]need to do it. And that's the
[00:47:46.660]best example we have of a whole
[00:47:46.660]of society effort to deal with
[00:47:46.660]a problem of
[00:47:46.660]be smart consumers. Where do we
[00:47:49.870]think gambling is heading? Well,
[00:47:53.230]here it is. In America, our
[00:47:56.130]free
[00:47:56.260]enterprise system, when
[00:47:58.430]somebody has an idea, everybody
[00:48:00.350]else copies it and pretty soon,
[00:48:02.260]here we
[00:48:02.660]go. The gambling industry will
[00:48:05.830]continue to expand until the
[00:48:08.030]market is saturated. There's
[00:48:10.810]not unlimited
[00:48:11.700]money to be spent on gambling.
[00:48:15.060]The Federal Reserve Bank of St.
[00:48:18.100]Louis maintains a checklist,
[00:48:21.060]we call it. It's kind of like
[00:48:23.780]the consumer, the CPI, the
[00:48:25.970]Consumer Price Index. Well,
[00:48:28.700]there's another one called the
[00:48:30.070]personal consumption, personal
[00:48:31.590]expenditure consumption.
[00:48:32.980]Okay, so personal consumption
[00:48:36.400]expenditures on services, not
[00:48:41.140]merchandise. And of the
[00:48:43.900]spending money on services,
[00:48:46.290]gambling is on the list. And it
[00:48:50.420]runs around 1% year after year
[00:48:53.170]when they tabulate this of all
[00:48:55.690]spending. In other words,
[00:48:58.340]there is not unlimited money
[00:49:00.430]that will be spent out of the
[00:49:02.640]American economy on gambling.
[00:49:04.830]It's
[00:49:05.540]going to have its natural limit.
[00:49:08.030]So the market will be saturated.
[00:49:10.580]People will not spend more and
[00:49:12.420]more, except as the economy
[00:49:16.100]grows.
[00:49:16.500]New ways to gamble, of course.
[00:49:19.860]The smartphone is the coming
[00:49:22.530]thing. I told you about
[00:49:24.740]half a dozen casinos, 10,000
[00:49:27.140]slot machines in Nebraska. We
[00:49:28.950]probably have three or four
[00:49:30.580]million
[00:49:31.060]smartphones. Those are the next
[00:49:34.350]slot machines, the next
[00:49:37.010]gambling activities that we're
[00:49:39.840]going to be
[00:49:40.260]dealing with. So our little
[00:49:42.170]program here in Nebraska, we'll
[00:49:45.810]continue what we're doing and
[00:49:48.260]deal with increasing demand for
[00:49:49.970]services, fighting for a budget
[00:49:52.370]to make it possible for us to
[00:49:54.380]do
[00:49:54.500]this. Now, that's the end of my
[00:49:57.480]sermonette here. And I had
[00:50:00.490]talked to John about answering
[00:50:02.980]questions.
[00:50:03.460]And of course, I sailed right
[00:50:04.770]past that. John, do you have
[00:50:06.010]any questions I can answer?
[00:50:07.380]Yeah, we did, David. We had a
[00:50:09.940]question earlier when you were
[00:50:11.720]chatting a little bit about the
[00:50:13.150]financial literacy education
[00:50:14.500]piece.
[00:50:14.820]Do you know if the financial
[00:50:16.530]literacy is an evidence-based
[00:50:18.420]strategy and a prevention
[00:50:20.260]for gambling or gambling
[00:50:21.410]education and prevention?
[00:50:22.820]Actually, I don't think it is
[00:50:24.430]evidence-based. I think it's
[00:50:26.160]experience-based. And that is
[00:50:28.500]virtually everything we're
[00:50:30.990]doing is not based upon sound
[00:50:33.460]evidence of efficacy. Because
[00:50:38.900]we're
[00:50:39.620]all, in our program here, and I
[00:50:41.120]think, Matt, you're going to
[00:50:42.570]hear from him about the high
[00:50:43.940]school,
[00:50:44.260]it's stuff we're trying to
[00:50:46.050]figure out the best way to do
[00:50:47.600]it. We're figuring it out based
[00:50:49.220]on
[00:50:49.380]experience. We keep track of
[00:50:51.270]experience. Now, that's our
[00:50:52.850]evidence. Our evidence is the
[00:50:54.580]experience
[00:50:55.220]we've had. It's not based upon
[00:50:57.120]laboratory experiments. It's
[00:50:59.120]just based upon what we know,
[00:51:01.140]what we think it works. So we're
[00:51:02.660]going to give it a try,
[00:51:03.620]see if it works, hope it works.
[00:51:05.920]If it doesn't, we'll keep fiddling
[00:51:08.440]with it, try to make it work.
[00:51:09.300]Try to make it better. So if
[00:51:10.330]you talk about evidence-based,
[00:51:12.490]the evidentiary basis for it
[00:51:15.460]is not based upon a randomized
[00:51:18.140]trial. It's based upon
[00:51:20.390]experience.
[00:51:21.860]Thank you, David.
[00:51:25.940]Thank you, Theresa, for putting
[00:51:30.850]that link into the
[00:51:33.300]chat for everybody to see. Are
[00:51:35.550]there any other questions that
[00:51:37.170]we have for David?
[00:51:38.980]No. Okay, we're done.
[00:51:45.300]Done. That's right. And right
[00:51:47.160]on time?
[00:51:47.780]Thank you very much. Yeah,
[00:51:49.130]right on time. How about that?
[00:51:50.700]Okay.
[00:51:51.140]There you go. Thank you, David.
[00:51:52.420]Theresa's up next. Yeah.
[00:51:53.540]Theresa is up next. We have a
[00:51:55.650]five-minute stretch break. We
[00:51:57.900]will begin with Theresa Foray
[00:51:59.970]from the
[00:52:00.660]North American Epic Global
[00:52:02.410]Solutions right at 11:00 AM. So
[00:52:04.970]if anybody needs to stretch,
[00:52:06.900]let's go ahead
[00:52:07.460]and do so, and we'll get things
[00:52:08.930]switched over for everyone.
[00:52:10.500]Thank you, David.
[00:52:12.500]Thank you.
[00:52:37.460]Thank you.
[00:53:07.460]Thank you.
[00:53:37.460]Thank you.
[00:54:07.460]Thank you.
[00:54:37.460]Thank you.
[00:55:07.460]Thank you.
[00:55:37.460]Thank you.
[00:56:07.460]Thank you.
[00:56:37.460]Thank you.
[00:57:07.460]Thank you.

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Session 1- Nebraska Gamblers Assistance Program

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