Archive for category: Press Release

Research funding allotment is the largest in the organization’s history

Jan 18, 2012

BEVERLY, MASS. – The National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) today announced it has allocated more than $1.5 million for grants in support of research on the prevention and treatment of gambling disorders. This is the largest amount of research dollars allocated for project grants in the organization’s 15-year tenure. The grants will be awarded in seven categories: Travel Grants (up to $1,500 for one year); Exploration Grants (up to $10,000 for one year); Seed Grants (up to $25,000 for one year); Early Stage Investigator Grants (up to $30,000 for two years); Independent Scientist Grants (up to $40,000 for two years); Postdoctoral Fellowships (up to $43,000 for one year); and Large Grants (up to $75,000 per year for two years).

Additionally, the NCRG has issued a call for applications for its Centers of Excellence in Gambling Research (up to $350,000 for three years), which employ a long-term, institutional approach to conducting innovative and multidisciplinary research and education.

“The NCRG is pleased to offer such a high level of funding in 2012 to support high-quality research that will help prevent, diagnose and treat gambling disorders,” said Christine Reilly, senior research director of the NCRG. “The NCRG is the largest and only private source of funding in the U.S. for investigations of gambling disorders and has been awarding competitive research grants on gambling disorders and youth gambling since 1996. These grants will not only support seasoned researchers in the field, it but will also help to cultivate the next generation of investigators through additional career development funding opportunities.”

The NCRG’s competitive project grants program welcomes applications from researchers in psychology, psychiatry, epidemiology, public health, sociology, economics, neuroscience and other relevant disciplines.

Grants are available in the following categories:

Travel Grants

The Travel Grants program is intended to support the attendance of postdoctoral investigators at scientific meetings at which they will present a paper or poster on gambling research. Applicants may request up to $1,500 in direct costs per year. Applications will be accepted throughout 2012.

Exploration Grants

The Exploration Grants program provides quick access to funding for researchers. Applicants may request up to $10,000 in direct costs for a period not to exceed 12 months. Applications will be accepted throughout 2012.

Seed Grants

The Seed Grants program supports small research projects that can be completed in one year. Applicants may request up to $25,000 in direct costs for a period not to exceed 12 months. Applications will be accepted throughout 2012.

Early Stage Investigator Grants

The Early Stage Investigator Grants program is intended to help ensure that a pool of highly trained scientists is available to address the research needs of the field of gambling disorders. Eligible applicants are within 10 years of completing their terminal research degree or within 10 years of completing medical residency. Applicants may request up to $30,000 in direct costs per year for a period not to exceed 24 months. Applications are due May 1, 2012.

Independent Scientist Grant

The Independent Scientist Grant program provides support for newly independent scientists who can demonstrate the need for a period of intensive research focus as a means to enhance their research careers. The grant is intended to foster the development of outstanding scientists and to enable them to expand their potential to make significant contributions to the field of gambling disorders. Applicants may request up to $40,000 in direct costs per year for 24 months. Applications are due May 1, 2012.

Postdoctoral Fellowship

The Postdoctoral Fellowship program is intended to help ensure that a pool of highly trained scientists is available to address the research needs in the field of gambling disorders. Eligible applicants are within five years of completing their terminal research degree or within five years of completing medical residency. Applicants may request up to $43,000 in direct costs for a period not to exceed 12 months. Applications are due May 1, 2012.

Large Grants

The Large Grants program provides up to two years of support for discrete, specified, circumscribed research projects related to gambling disorders. Applicants may request up to $75,000 in direct costs per year for a period not to exceed 24 months. Letters of intent are due March 1, 2012, and full applications are due July 2, 2012.

Request for Applications: Centers of Excellence in Gambling Research

The purpose of the NCRG Centers of Excellence in Gambling Research program is to advance the understanding of gambling disorders through innovative, multidisciplinary research investigations, and enhance the dissemination of research findings to the public. These grants are intended to provide funding for a stable, long-term institutional focus on a complex set of gambling-related problems. Recipients will be required to involve young investigators in conducting the research. Applicants may request up to a total of $350,000 in direct costs for a period not to exceed 36 months. Letters of intent are due March 1, 2012, and full applications are due July 2, 2012.

Proposed research investigations in all categories may focus on a broad range of research that develops and tests psychosocial or pharmacological approaches for prevention, intervention, treatment or relapse prevention of gambling disorders. The NCRG is especially interested in brief interventions targeted at underrepresented populations, such as minorities, young adults and persons with subclinical gambling disorders. Other priorities of the NCRG include the impact of Indian gaming, gambling and minorities, secondary data analysis and technology and gambling.

The competitive grants program is conducted under the direction the Scientific Advisory Board, composed of leading independent scientists with expertise in addictions and related fields and a commitment to ensuring the most rigorous standards in the selection of projects funded by the NCRG. The Scientific Advisory Board and the peer-review panels follow the National Institutes of Health criteria for scientific merit and peer-review procedures.

For more information about project grants and research supported by the NCRG, visit the NCRG’s online research center atwww.ncrg.org/research-center. To stay up-to-date on year-round educational opportunities and the latest news and issues in the field, visit the NCRG’s blog –Gambling Disorders 360°– and connect with the NCRG onFacebookandTwitter.

NCRG Board also elects Mark Vander Linden to the board of directors; approves $1.5 million in funding for research grants to study gambling disorders in 2012

Jan 9, 2012

WASHINGTON— The National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) today announced Alan M. Feldman, senior vice president of public affairs for MGM Resorts International, has been named the new chairman of the organization’s board of directors. Feldman replaces Glenn C. Christenson. Christenson, managing director of the investment firm Velstand Investments, LLC, who has served as chairman of the board of directors for three years and will remain on the board. The NCRG board also elected Mark Vander Linden, executive officer of the Office of Gambling Treatment and Prevention at the Iowa Department of Public Health, to join as a board member.

“Alan has long been a strong voice in the gaming industry on issues of responsible gaming and finding effective methods for addressing gambling disorders. He has an unwavering commitment to the NCRG,” Christenson said. “I am delighted to remain on the NCRG board to support Alan’s leadership as the NCRG continues to address these issues through peer-reviewed research and public education.”

Feldman has served on the NCRG board since 2000. Throughout his career, he has taken a leadership role on a wide array of industry issues, with a particular focus in areas concerning responsible gaming. In addition to serving on the NCRG board, he is a board member for the Nevada Council on Problem Gambling and has previously served as a member of the Athletes and Addictions Task Force at Harvard University Medical School, Division on Addictions. He has been recognized with numerous awards, including the 2002 Gaming Professional of the Year Award from the Casino Management Association and the 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award in Gaming Communications from the American Gaming Association.

“I am honored that the NCRG board has put their confidence in me to follow Glenn Christensen in this capacity. Glenn has done an incredible job of leading the NCRG in creating new initiatives that help to translate the NCRG-funded research findings into practical, real-world applications,” Feldman said.

‘Under his astute leadership, the NCRG has created the NCRG Centers of Excellence in Gambling Research and extraordinary resources such asCollegeGambling.org. I hope to build on this success by expanding our efforts to raise awareness of problem gambling and responsible gaming through the top-notch, peer-reviewed research and public education initiatives that makes the NCRG a leading organization in this field.”

The election of Vander Linden brings an experienced public health perspective to the NCRG board of directors. As executive officer of the Office of Gambling Treatment and Prevention, Vander Linden oversees all problem gambling services for the state including treatment, prevention, workforce development, social marketing and evaluation. Vander Linden is also the board president of the Association of Problem Gambling Service Administrators and holds advisory roles with the Midwest Consortium on Problem Gambling and Substance Abuse and the Prairielands Addiction Transfer Technology Center.

“We are excited to have Mark on the NCRG board, as his experience will lend great insight on the public health perspective of problem gambling,” Feldman said. “He has already been a champion for the NCRG in helping us organize treatment provider workshops and speaking at the NCRG Conference of Gambling and Addiction, and we look forward to working with him more in the coming years.”

The NCRG board of directors also announced it has allocated more than $1.5 million for grants in 2012 to support research on the prevention and treatment of gambling disorders. This is the largest amount of research dollars allotted for research grants in the organization’s 15-year history. Researchers will be able to apply for 2012 research funding opportunities in seven categories, to be announced in January 2012.

The NCRG board of directors includes representatives from the gaming industry and the treatment and regulatory communities. In addition to Feldman, Christenson and Vander Linden, the board includes NCRG President William S. Boyd, executive chairman of Boyd Gaming Corporation; NCRG Treasurer and Secretary Judy L. Patterson, senior vice president and executive director of the American Gaming Association; Sue Cox, founding executive director of the Texas Council on Problem and Compulsive Gambling; Kevin Mullally, general counsel and director of government affairs for Gaming Laboratories International; Phil Satre, chairman of International Game Technology; Jennifer Shatley, vice president of responsible gaming policies and compliance for Caesars Entertainment Corporation; and Bruce Shear, president and CEO of Pioneer Behavioral Health.

To learn more about the NCRG, visitwww.ncrg.org. To stay up-to-date on year-round educational opportunities and the latest news and issues in the field, visit the NCRG’s blog –Gambling Disorders 360°– and connect with the NCRG onFacebookandTwitter.

Online Screening and Brief Intervention Tool will be Located on CollegeGambling.org

Oct 18, 2011

WASHINGTON –The National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) awarded a research grant of $171,561 to Clayton Neighbors, Ph.D., professor of psychology and director of the Social Influences and Health Behaviors Lab at the University of Houston, for the development and testing of an online screening and brief intervention (SBI) aimed at reducing gambling-related problems among college students. The SBI will be included on the NCRG’s new website,www.CollegeGambling.org, which was developed as a tool to help higher-education institutions address gambling disorders and responsible gaming on campus.

Research finds that 75 percent of college students gambled during the past year (whether legally or illegally, on campus or off). While the vast majority of those old enough to legally gamble can do so responsibly, the most recent research estimates that 6 percent of college students in the U.S. have a serious gambling problem that can result in psychological difficulties, unmanageable debt and failing grades. For those who are not of legal age to gamble, there is no level of responsible gambling.

‘Nearly all U.S. colleges and universities have policies on student alcohol use; however, only 22 percent have a formal policy on gambling,’ said Glenn Christenson, chairman of the NCRG. ‘Students who admit to having a gambling problem sometimes find a lack of support on campus. The goal of the SBI will be to help college students assess their own gambling behaviors to determine if their gambling is likely to be harming their health or increasing their risk for future harm.’

Dr. Neighbors and his research team will conduct a randomized controlled trial evaluating a Personalized Normative Feedback (PNF) intervention for college students with gambling problems. Research has shown that PNF interventions have been successfully used to reduce rates of drinking on campus by showing students their misperceptions of student drinking behavior. Dr. Neighbors will translate this research and create an online screening instrument to reduce problem gambling by showing students their misperceptions of student gambling behavior. This free resource is expected to be available on CollegeGambling.org in 2013.

CollegeGambling.org is a comprehensive resource for students, campus administrators, campus health professionals and parents. The first site of its kind, CollegeGambling.org brings together the latest research and best practices in responsible gaming and the field of addiction awareness and prevention to provide a substantive and versatile resource that will help schools and their students address this issue in the way best suited to each school. In addition to providing those who are concerned about a gambling problem with resources to find help, the website includes separate sections for each of these audiences, and content is tailored to address the needs, questions and concerns of each of these groups.

CollegeGambling.org builds on the recommendations of the Task Force on College Gambling Policies, which was established in 2008 by the NCRG and the Division on Addictions at the Cambridge Health Alliance, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School.

For more information about college gambling or the Task Force on College Gambling Policies, visitwww.CollegeGambling.org. To learn more about the NCRG and its programs, visitwww.ncrg.org. To stay up-to-date on year-round educational opportunities and the latest news and issues in the field, visit the NCRG’s blog –Gambling Disorders 360°; and connect with the NCRG onFacebookandTwitter.

Aug 24, 2011

WASHINGTON–The National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) today released the sixth volume ofIncreasing the Odds: A Series Dedicated to Understanding Gambling Disorders,which examines seminal neuroscience research on gambling disorders. The NCRG’s monograph series provides easy-to-understand summaries of influential peer-reviewed research on gambling disorders, as well as implications for future research and prevention efforts.

‘Researchers have shown that studying the brain’s functions is crucial to the understanding and treatment of addiction and gambling disorders,’ said Glenn Christenson, chairman of the NCRG. ‘The research in this monograph focuses on what significant technological advances in areas such as brain imaging and genetics further demonstrating the complex biological factors at play in gambling disorders.’

This sixth volume of the NCRG’s monograph series is titled, ‘Gambling and the Brain: Why Neuroscience Research is Vital to Gambling Research’ and includes research summaries about the following topics:

‘Neurobiology and Pathological Gambling’ by Jon E. Grant, M.D., J.D., M.P.H.

Biochemical, functional neuroimaging, genetic studies and treatment research have suggested a strong neurobiological link between behavioral addictions and substance use disorders. An improved understanding of this connection not only gives researchers a greater understanding of both disorders, but helps to improve prevention and treatment strategies. Dr. Grant provides a helpful overview of this issue, including a discussion of the various neurotransmitters — chemicals that carry signals — implicated in the development of addiction and other psychiatric disorders.

‘Brain Activity in Pathological Gambling’ by Marc Potenza, M.D., Ph.D.

Urges to gamble usually precede the self-destructive behaviors observed in individuals with gambling problems (Potenza et al., 2003). Dr. Potenza’s article illustrates how brain imaging technology, or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), can be used to observe brain function in real time and better understand the role that urges play in the development of a gambling disorder.

‘Brain Imaging Studies: A Review’ by Anna E. Goudriaan, Ph.D.

Dr. Goudriaan provides an overview of neuroimaging research on gambling disorders. She shows how fMRIs are used to study different regions of the brain and to investigate the role that a person’s reward system, reactivity to cues and decision-making abilities play in pathological gambling.

‘The Rat Gambling Task: Understanding the Role of Serotonin and Dopamine in Pathological Gambling’ by Catharine A. Winstanley, Ph.D.

By examining rewards and punishments in a gambling task, researchers were able to further examine the roles that different neurotransmitters can play in addictive behaviors. Dr.Winstanley summarizes an animal research study that demonstrates that laboratory rats can play the odds and provides evidence that the neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin play a role in gambling behavior.

A downloadable copy ofIncreasing the Oddsis available on the NCRG website. The first five volumes of the series, which address topics such as youth and gambling, the various aspects of gambling addiction recovery, gambling and public health and self-exclusion programs, are also available on the website. To request a hard copy of the sixth volume ofIncreasing the Odds, contact Amy Martin at 202-552-2689 oramartin@ncrg.org.

For more information on the NCRG, visitwww.ncrg.org. To stay up-to-date on year-round educational opportunities and the latest news and issues in the field, visit the NCRG’s blog –Gambling Disorders 360°– and connect with the NCRG onFacebookandTwitter.

Need-based scholarships will help cover attendance and travel costs for NCRG Conference attendees

Aug 17, 2011

WASHINGTON–The National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG) today announced it will offer scholarships to attend its 12^thannual Conference on Gambling and Addiction. These need-based scholarships can help offset the admission and travel costs for conference attendees, specifically those in the clinical and public health sectors. This year’s conference will explore the various ways technology can transform how we research, understand and promote recovery from gambling disorders and other addictions. The event is scheduled for Oct. 2-4, 2011 at The Sands Expo and Convention Center at The Venetian in Las Vegas, Nev.

‘The NCRG is excited to provide scholarships for its annual conference to allow more members of the public health community to learn about gambling disorders and new developments in treatment methods, technology and educational programs,’ said Glenn Christenson, chairman of the NCRG. ‘These scholarships reflect the NCRG’s commitment to keep industry members, clinicians and health care professionals apprised of the latest in prevention, programs and research to address gambling disorders.’

The NCRG will provide between 20 and 30 individual sponsorships to attend the NCRG Conference, up to 10 of which may also include travel assistance of $200. The NCRG Conference scholarship program is open to all conference attendees; however, at least 50 percent of the registration-only scholarships will be offered to Nevada residents. Submissions may be sent to Christine Reilly, senior research director at the NCRG, via emailcreilly@ncrg.org, or faxed to (978) 552-8452. The application deadline is Friday, August 26^th. Applications materials are available atwww.ncrg.org.

The 2011 NCRG Conference – ‘Risk or Reward? The Impact of Technology on Treatment, Research and Responsible Gaming’ – will bring together the world’s leading addiction scientists, clinicians, academicians, health care professionals, gaming industry representatives, government officials and regulators to discuss the most pressing issues in the field of gambling disorders and responsible gaming.

For more information on the NCRG Conference and need-based scholarships, visitwww.ncrg.org. To stay up-to-date on year-round educational opportunities and the latest news and issues in the field, visit the NCRG’s blog –Gambling Disorders 360°; and connect with the NCRG onFacebookandTwitter.