Oregon Problem Gambling Helpline

Policy Change: Big Impacts

Broad interventions with potentially the greatest community impact, gambling-related policy changes affect the whole environment in which gambling happens.

Why gambling-related policy change matters

One way to prevent gambling problems, among young people and even the population as a whole, is to establish public and institutional policies that reduce overall rates of under-age gambling and promote harm reduction measures. This is commonly referred to as the “environmental approach” — changing the community and policy environment to promote health and reduce social problems associated with problem behaviors. This “environmental approach” has been shown to be very effective with alcohol and tobacco prevention efforts.

Gambling-related policies can affect these community “risk factors” that have been shown to increase the rate of gambling among young people:

• Availability/Accessibility: Greater accessibility of gambling is shown to increase youth gambling, money spent on gambling, and numbers of problem gamblers (Dickson, Derevensky, & Gupta, 2002). Availability of gambling can be determined by policies that specify who can gamble, where gambling can occur, and types of gambling that may occur.
  
• Advertising: Gambling is heavily advertised and readily available to youth. Youth who recall advertising are more likely to play (Dickson et al., 2002).
  
• Awareness: Parents and family members are not aware of the dangers inherent in children regularly engaging in gambling activities; educators are not aware of the prevalence of children gambling on a regular basis (Dickson et al., 2002). Gambling-related policies can help educate the community on the risks of gambling and acceptable and legal youth behavior.

Partners in prevention: examples of effective alcohol and tobacco policies:

• Prohibiting sales of tobacco/alcohol to minors (proven to reduce underage availability/accessibility)
  
• Taxes on tobacco/alcohol (proven to reduce consumption)
  
• Limiting number of alcohol outlets (proven to reduce availability/accessibility)

Gambling-related policies might include, among other changes:

• Stipulating age minimums to gamble
  
• Limiting gambling types and stakes
  
• Limiting locations at which to gamble

How to get started

What are your local gambling-related policies?

• Schools: Visit our schools section, or your local college/university website. See also: gamblingprevention.blogspot.com/2006/10/oregon-school-gambling-policies.html
  
• Workplace: Most employers have a manual that lists prohibited activities. Find out if, and how, gambling is included.
  
• Community: Look at your local jurisdiction’s ordinances pertaining to gambling. “Social gaming” is a recent hot topic in local communities. See our segment on social gaming policy in the following pages.

Are there issues/problems that seem to be arising from existing policy? Find out from the local paper if there’s been any news on this issue.

Is there community support for change? If you have funds, you could do a formal poll/survey. Since most of us don’t, find out from the local paper if there’s been any news on this issue.

Do you have allies? Community groups can be very supportive, and have much more influence than one person. If you don’t have a gambling-related coalition in your community, consider taking this issue to a substance abuse or related prevention coalition.

Do you have help? Policy work is time-consuming. See if there’s anyone else in your community that is also interested in this issue, to help research, craft language, and provide information.

How much can you participate? Public employees have restrictions on what they can and can’t do (see “Policy Prudence” box below). Once a policy is up for consideration, public employees must only be in a position of providing information—not actively campaigning for or against the issue. Keep in mind that members of the community are not subject to these rules.

CAUTION!

Public Employees: Policy Prudence
Policy work can be risky business for public employees. While allowed to provide information about problem gambling anytime, active campaigning on pending policies is a no-no. For a good primer on state law, see Restrictions on Political Campaigning by Public Employees, ORS 260.432 (http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/publications/restrictions.pdf). Be sure to check your local jurisdiction’s guidelines as well.

Reference:

Dickson, L.M., Derevensky, J.L., & Gupta, R. (2002). The prevention of gambling problems in youth: A conceptual framework. Journal of Gambling Studies, 18, 97-159.