There’s an effort in New York state to do more to prevent problem gambling. It comes out of a coalition of organizations called New York State’s Responsible Play Partnership (RPP), and it includes the New York State Gaming Commission, the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS) and the New York Council on Problem Gambling (NYCPG).

They gathered this week at del Lago Resort and Casino in Waterloo to talk about the effort.

Jim Maney is Executive Director for the Council on Problem Gambling, and he said that some casinos, like del Lago, are trying to be more proactive when they see people betting over what they likely can afford.

Maney gave a hypothetical situation that might happen at a casino.

“So we’ll know who it is, we’ll see that Johnny increased his bets over the three months period, from $100 a week to $3,000 a week,” said Maney. “Hopefully that’ll be a warning sign, a risk that we can take a look at.”

Maney noted that there is a change coming up soon with the state’s Voluntary Self-Exclusion program, which allows an individual to self-exclude from gaming opportunities. Beginning Nov. 12, that person can also opt-in to being contacted by a counselor trained in working with problem gambling situations.

“That means that you want someone to give you a call to discuss about the resources available if you need services to get help,” said Maney. “We have not had that before, where someone signs up, they sign up to the list, and that’s about it. Now that opt-in will be ‘yes, please, have someone call me and then we can talk about getting help.’”

Mobile sports betting has been getting a lot of attention in the last two-and-a-half years it’s been around. But Robert Williams, who is Executive Director for the New York State Gaming Commission, said the state still needs to collect more data.

“Clearly people are embracing sports wagering, but is it making any sort of a change in the prevalence rates in the population?” And that’s something that anecdotal data doesn’t help you with,” said Williams.

Williams is hoping the academic community and other experts can learn more about the impact of mobile sports betting as they continue to sift through reams of data that is being collected.

In general, Williams said getting access to more data about gambling in New York state is crucial to getting help for people who are having problems with their gambling habit.

“A lot of what we’re trying to do is gather the right types of information and ensure that the experts at the New York Council on Problem Gambling or OASAS, have access to that so they can make their policy determinations and implement what’s appropriate.”