Have you seen this ad, which has been appearing recently in the Schenectady Daily Gazette?

As you can see above, Rivers Casino is offering hour-long “Gaming Lessons” for those wanting to “Learn Table Games: Craps, Roulette, Blackjack, Poker.” That is, of course, not at all surprising. Nor, despite its motto “reinvent your life,” is it surprising that 50+Living, a Gazette subsidiary, is “presenting” the Gaming Lessons Program, and featuring it on their website. (The Gazette has been part of the Casino’s primary cheerleader squad since our City Council voted to approve the application of Rush Street Gaming and the Galesi Group for a gaming license in 2014.)

 What is both surprising and rather sad, however, are the other pillars of our community that have apparently joined the Casino’s harem: There are only two other Sponsors for the Gaming Lessons in addition to Rivers Casino: Ellis Medicine and MVP (f/k/a Mohawk Valley Physicians’ Health Plan). That’s right, Schenectady County’s two leading health care institutions are lending their reputations and stature, and their reach into the community through affiliated physicians and other practitioners, thousands of employees, and tens of thousands of patients/subscribers, to the promotion of gambling in Schenectady.

  update (Sept. 15, 2017): The ad for Gaming Lessons in today’s Daily Gazette has removed the Ellis Medicine and MVP Health Care logos from the sponsors section of the ad. See the detailed update at the bottom of this posting.

 It seems fair to ask, “What ever are they thinking?!”. And, giving them the benefit of the doubt, what kind of pressure have MVP and Ellis received from the City, County and Metroplex to enhance the Casino’s status in our community, and perhaps bolster its flagging revenues? It seems unlikely to me that sponsoring gaming lessons is an initiative that originated within Ellis or MVP’s hierarchy, health care staff, or public relations office.

Organizing “Gaming Lessons” was not exactly the sort of education we had in mind during Problem Gambling Awareness Month, earlier this year, when we wrote at this site:

 Education-Prevention Trumps Treatment. Our hope was that community education and prevention activities might be in operation prior to the Casino’s opening, in order to help inoculate the population of Schenectady against the anticipated tsunami of publicity for the Rivers Casino at Mohawk Harbor, with its resulting Casino Fever.

As expected, in addition to the Casino’s own advertising and promotions, publicity for the Casino has included government and media cheerleading, as casino “gaming” is promoted as a normal, glamorous, and even civic-spirited activity.

      Our goal was, and is, not to urge the general public to avoid or boycott the Casino, but instead to help create an informed attitude toward casino gambling that places it into the low-risk category of casual entertainment and recreation, rather than an acceptable high-risk habit leading down the path of problem, disordered, or pathological gambling.

Unfortunately, in the past year, our local government leaders have not stepped forward to put Problem Gambling Awareness [“PGA”] programs into place in time to inoculate our community from casino fever.

 . . click for Sara Foss’ Gazette column (Feb. 5, 2017)

For two years, I have been waiting for Schenectady’s public and private sectors to start making problem gambling prevention a serious priority, through educating the community (and not merely settling for feeble intervention efforts at the Casino itself). Given the explicit commitment of both Ellis and MVP to Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral (MEB) health promotion and MEB disorder prevention, sponsorship of table game Gambling Lessons seemed like an unlikely and inappropriate path for both institutions. 

• MEB [Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral] health disorders include but are not limited to: substance use disorders, mental illness, suicide, and problem gambling.

 Just last month, MVP appointed a new Vice President for Mental Health in order to “further MVP’s commitment to more holistically integrating behavioral health into traditional medical models and creating the best possible outcomes for MVP’s members with behavioral health diagnoses.”

 More specifically, in response to Schenectady County’s highest in the region male suicide rates (2nd highest for females), and highest in the region Emergency Department visits and hospitalizations for mental disease and disorder, Ellis has announced, as a cornerstone element of its Prevention Agenda, an “Ellis Implementation Strategy . . . with a simultaneous emphasis on suicide prevention and on broad support for Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral (MEB) health services.” See “New York State 2016 Community Health Needs Assessment and Improvement Plan and Community Service Plan for Schenectady County”, at 30. 

 Furthermore, according to its Alliance for Better Health Care project workbook, Ellis Medicine also aims to “Participate in Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral (MEB) health promotion and MEB disorder prevention partnerships.” That includes efforts to “Support collaboration among leaders, professionals, and community members working in MEB health promotion to address substance abuse and other MEB disorders.” Prominent sponsorship of Gaming Lessons may be a community partnership, but it does not appear likely to advance Ellis’ stated MEB goals. 

 Certainly, the leaders of the Ellis and MVP organizations are aware of the issue of Problem Gambling, and especially its increased prevalence when an urban community gets its first casino, making repeat visits much easier, and social pressure to participate stronger, as casino gaming is promoted as a normal, glamorous, and even civic-spirited activity. [For a discussion of the issues and research, with links to many programs and resources, see our posting at http://tinyurl.com/ProbGambSchdy.] Rather than helping to combat problem gambling before it infects a gambler and family, by sponsoring training to familiarize and glamorize casino table games, MVP and Ellis seem to be casting an aura of good health upon Rivers Casino at Mohawk Harbor. What are they thinking?

•    50+Living has a catchy tagline, “reinvent your life.” But, the meaning of that phrase seems compromised when its website has a large ad for the Gaming Lessons program at the top of every page, in its right margin, with a link to its registration form. We might even wonder just what that woman is wishing for when she blows the seeds off a dandelion. Retirement, aging, and loneliness can often amplify the risk of gambling becoming a problem that upsets the lives of many seniors and their families. Shouldn’t 50+Living use its forum to help its target audience avoid those risks? See, e.g., this Guide for Older Gamblers.

“Problem Gambling” means gambling behaviors that result in serious negative consequences to the gambler, and his or her family and friends, employer, or community. [See New York Council on Problem Gambling] In additional to its impact on the gambler herself or himself, problem gambling can especially affect the gambler’s family and friends. It can affect people in any age, racial, or economic group, but youth (kids; adolescents and college students) and senior citizens are thought to be particularly at-risk, as are persons with low income. [click on each topic link for a brochure prepared by the NYS Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS)]

If Ellis Medicine, MVP, and 50+Living would truly like to help our community’s education regarding the existence of a full-service casino in our midst, they should take advantage of an impressive trove of materials already in existence about preventing and treating problem gambling, and nurturing healthy attitudes and low-risk behaviors relating to gambling. For example:

1.     Click the thumbnail on the left for a full-page pdf poster created for physicians and other health care providers by the National Council on Problem Gambling, suggesting three simple questions to ask a patient to help determine if there might be a gambling problem, with contact information for resources.
2.  The New York Problem Gambling Council has put together a very useful Toolkit, with helpful one-page Action Sheets for Youth, Parents, Senior Citizen Caregivers, School Personnel, and School Administrators to assist in “having the conversation” with friends, employees, family, etc., about problem gambling. See and download the Have the Conversation Toolkit.
3. Youth are thought to be particularly at risk of developing problem gambling disorders. And, Rush Streets seems particularly interested in attracting younger gamblers. See our posting,“what will the casino mean for Union College students?“; and a Union College handout on college students and gambling. Both MVP and Ellis should consider joining forces with the New York Council on Problem Gambling, with public school districts in the City and County, and with Union College to utilize existing materials aimed at adolescents and youth, or to create programs tailored to the Schenectady area and Capital District.
4. And, click these links to find more problem gambling resources, on this website, “snowmen at the gates,” and on Facebook: NYCouncilonProblemGambling,  KnowTheOdds, YouthDecideNY

If you feel that our community deserves more appropriate action by Ellis and MVP with regard to gambling education and partnerships with Rivers Casino, please let them know. You might ask whether they have better ways to spend their resources and lend their reputations.

To Contact Ellis Medicine, click here; to contact MVP, click here; and to contact 50+Living, click here.

. . share this post with this URL: http://tinyurl.com/EllisMVPGambling . .

Postscript:  By itself, the decision by the Foundation for Ellis Medicine to hold its 2017 Women’s Night Out celebration dinner at Rivers Casino & Resort may be harmless, even if the “Luck Be a Lady” slogan is a bit condescending. However, in conjunction with the Gaming Lessons project, this “premier networking environment” among Schenectady’s upper crust, seems like an unnecessary additional signal that the Rivers Casino is a glamorous and civic-minded part of our community.

 Update (September 15, 2017): Around noon today, I sent the following email message to Capital Region Media members and others interested in the topic, relaying the good news that Ellis and MVP were no longer listed as Sponsors of the Gaming Lessons project at Rivers Casino.

From: David Giacalone <dgiacalone@nycap.rr.com>

Subject: update on Ellis & MVP sponsoring Gaming Lessons

Date: September 15, 2017 at 12:06:09 PM EDT

To: Capital Region Media <dgiacalone@nycap.rr.com>

 There was a pleasant surprise for me on p. A5 of today’s Daily Gazette. I glanced at the Rivers Casino Gaming Lessons ad and noticed a difference in the spot naming the sponsors: Only Rivers Casino, with Ellis and MVP removed. The first attachment [shown here at the right] shows the prior Sponsors portion of the Gaming Lessons ad and today’s version. The second attachment is a collage depicting the story in more detail, including reference to my posting on Wednesday, at SnowmenAtTheGates.com, “Why are Ellis Medicine and MVP promoting Casino Gambling?”, at http://tinyurl.com/EllisMVPGambling 

Clearly, I hope today’s version of the ad is not merely a misprint, but shows that a squeaky wheel can at times lead to clearer heads. Unless I learn that the change in the ad was inadvertent, I say “thank you Ellis and MVP.”

David

p.s. Please note, on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017, from 10 AM – 11 AM, there will be a Problem Gambling for Seniors phone conference “Teach-in”. The third attachment has the information. Thanks, Rev. Phil Grigsby, for forwarding to me an email sent on Sept. 13 by David Smingler of the Ellis Medicine Government Affairs Office to a broad group of interested persons.