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Sep. 13, 2007
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

JANE ANN MORRISON: Gambling addictions raise some tough questions with very personal answers

JANE ANN MORRISON
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One man's personal experience can change an entire industry. Case in point: Phil Satre.

Twenty years ago, while Satre was president and CEO of Harrah's gaming division, he found three personal experiences disturbing.

He learned the mother of a friend in Reno was going on gambling binges for three or four days at a time. Ultimately, the mother's uncontrollable desire to gamble resulted in her decision to move to a state where legal gambling wasn't so easily accessible.

Another experience involved a Harrah's customer, a businessman from Southern California who became self-destructive and even attempted suicide.

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    • About this same time, in Atlantic City, Debra Kim Cohen, a teenage beauty queen, daughter of a police detective, began stealing from her family to support a gambling addiction. Over the years, Harrah's became involved, comping the underage girl with suites and giving her a line of credit.

    The ugly side of problem gaming was disturbing to Satre, now 58, who headed the company's gaming division from 1984 until his retirement in 2005. It wasn't just some anonymous loser. It was personal.

    In 1987, problem gambling was under the radar in Nevada. There was a shortage of serious research on the subject. So Satre asked his own company to fund a study. The results were Operation Bet Smart and Project 21, the first programs to train employees to recognize pathological and underage gamblers.

    Others in his industry were less than thrilled. Why was he pointing out problems the gaming industry didn't want highlighted? Others feared Satre was going to harm the business if he kept beating this unpopular drum about problem gambling and the gaming industry's responsibility.

    "I was too naive," Satre said Monday, recalling the rousing support he didn't receive. "I wrote a letter to my colleagues and received not one response."

    But by the mid-1990s, as riverboat gambling spread to Middle America, the industry began to be pressured for assurances that problem gambling would be addressed. Soon, everyone was on board with the idea that gambling companies needed to train employees to recognize individuals with gambling addictions.

    Serious research was under way. In 2000, to protect themselves from the accusation that the industry-funded studies were tainted like tobacco studies, the industry connected with Harvard Medical School for serious research. The goal was to research problem gambling the same way alcohol and drug addictions are studied.

    Because of Satre's original efforts, Harrah's is recognized as a leader in the gaming industry for what is now called "responsible gaming."

    Today, Satre chairs the National Center for Responsible Gaming (www.ncrg.org), while fending off efforts by Democrats to persuade him to run for governor. Is that door closed?

    "I think it's all but closed," Satre said, leaving himself just a little wiggle room.

    His name comes up as a potential candidate for political office year after year, much like Kenny Guinn's name did. Guinn finally ran for governor without any prior political experience and won. Many think Satre has the same potential, with a similar likability factor and interest in public policy, but with better communication skills.

    But Monday, Satre didn't want to talk politics; he wanted to talk about the $7.6 million in additional funding the gaming industry raised for more academic research.

    Are gambling problems like alcohol? If you have an addiction, do you have to give it up entirely? (The prevailing thought today is that problem gamblers can't successfully return to controlled gambling.) Does easy access to credit encourage problem gamblers? Should underage gamblers be prosecuted legally or face other consequences? What makes someone a gambling addict? Can they beat it? Does age or ethnic background make a difference?

    With the spread of gambling worldwide, researchers eventually would have taken an interest in answering these questions. But helping pathological gamblers has come a long ways since the early days when casinos would post a few signs saying if you have a gambling problem, here's a number to call.

    Phil Satre made the process move faster by what he saw in Reno and Atlantic City 20 years ago when he was in his 30s.

    He's been asked whether his interest in problem gambling was little more than a public relations move.

    Actually, as he said repeatedly, it was personal.

    A friend's mom. A self-destructive customer. And a teenage girl. All three pathological gamblers.

    Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0275.



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    Debra Kim Cohen wrote on April 24, 2008 02:42 PM: And furthmore, Josie, and all readers, maybe I'd be in New Jersey with my daughter if I weren't chased to the other side of the country to be able to "eke" out my living as a professional poker player since I still can't enter any Atlantic City casino because of my evil, horrendous, crime(lol) of gambling underage 20 years ago. Phil Ivey brags and is glorified for playing poker at the Taj Mahal when he was 16( I played there with him! Lol)and carrying and presenting a fake ID as "Jerome" for 5 years(which I never did. I never had a fake ID). Yet I am perceived as a crimainal for 20 years and can't even walk in any casino in N.J. I am in some "black book" in Atlantic City next to Al Capone and can't get out. That cost me alot. My relationship with my daughter, and the man who was the love of my life, who now resides in Philadelphia, my sanity, my heart, and any chance to have a family or a full life or a decent job of another nature because of my so-called "criminal" record. What a joke! So what choice do I really have? Give up poker and start a career at Wall-Mart or McDonnalds at 38 for the remainder of my lonely life? Don't think so. Playing poker, or as you ignorantly see it..... "gambling" is not a crime.......but what the state of New Jersey put me through....and still does.....restricting,limiting,selectively persecuting, and ruining my life.... definately SHOULD be a crime. It is a crying, pathetic shame! I mean has it stopped me... or millions of other kids from "gambling"! So why not lay off me and leave me alone!


    Debra Kim Cohen wrote on April 24, 2008 02:12 PM: I never received any line of credit in any casino ever. I really wish the press would leave me alone. It has been over 20 years and would like the selective persecution to stop. I am a struggling professional poker player living in Las Vegas who sacraficed my whole life and my personal relationships for pursuing my trade and dream. Would like to tell my side of the story. Please e-mail me back.


    Josie wrote on December 01, 2007 11:58 AM: The saddest part is that today Ms. Cohen, age 38, is living in Las Vegas eking out a living as a "professional" poker player. She has a 15 year old daughter who lives on the other side of the country. She can't take care of her due to her addiction and often falls behind on child support payments. Very sad indeed.


    snowflake formerly known as princess wrote on September 13, 2007 08:07 PM: It is true that the gaming industry feeds off of problem gamblers. And now that gaming is so widespread nationally, more and more people are finding out that they have a gambling jones. It used to be that people saved up to come to Las Vegas. What hapened here stayed here. Most of them went back to their lives elsewhere and dreamed of coming to Las Vegas again. The ones with a problem decided to move here and merely exist from comp to comp. I have had relatives who had to leave the state because they had emptied out bank accounts playing slots.

    Believe me when I tell you that gambling is just as addictive for people as drugs and alcohol. Just look at Pete Rose and others who ruined great careers in their wild and reckless pursuit of gambling.

    Of course, people are all responsible for their actions. Would we expect bars to be closed down because of alcoholics? Of course not. Just beware of the dangers that stem from anything that is potentially addictive. And kudos to Satre for abetting a study of gaming whether or not it was after his career in gaming.


    Artistatwork@gmail.com wrote on September 13, 2007 12:14 PM: I would of respected him and his survey more had he done this B4 retiring. When he was in the casino it was OK now he sees, gee maybe people go overboard.
    The real enemy is cooperate America, who open nightclubs and knowingly let too young a crowd in, and put daycares in the casinos and some moms and dads spend the money they were to get there child out with, and movie theatres in the casinos these should be in separte places and not enticing youngsters to be around this. But I quote another on his take on the strike situation "it takes Amazing Grace for the blind to see." Money trumps all money first people second.


    Joe Lynch wrote on September 13, 2007 06:32 AM: And now the gambling (not gaming) industry says that it is AOK to gamble because it funds Nevada schools. What hypocrisy. ... Oh wait, I almost forgot that this is the "Rotten Borough"


    GEORGE MOSS wrote on September 13, 2007 03:50 AM: Casino concern about problem gambling is mainly cosmetic in order to mitigate negative publicity. They know full well that a substantial part of their revenue is derived from problem gamblers. Since government feeds off the casino revenue too, we will never see effective legislation about problem gambling.