ONLINE GAMBLING ON CONNECTICUT COUNCIL CONFERENCE AGENDA

Saturday October 8, 2011 : "Government approval of online gambling appears to be drawing near," says problem gambling expert
 
Online gambling is on the agenda for the next Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling conference, scheduled for October 20 at the Water's Edge Resort & Spa in Westbrook.
 
Marvin Steinberg, executive director of the council, told TheDay.com that US government approval of online gambling appears to be drawing near: "While the U.S. casino industry once opposed legalizing online gambling, it now wants to be the prime deliverer of it," he said.
 
The upcoming conference additionally will feature a panel discussion on the challenges prosecutors, defence attorneys and judges face in determining when rehabilitation is a better alternative to incarceration in cases of problem-gambling-related crime. New London Superior Court Judge Patrick J. Clifford and state public defenders will participate in that discussion.
 
Mary Drexler, assistant director of the problem-gambling council, said the panel grew out of correspondence in which Superior Court judges indicated they were interested in knowing more about the issue.
 
Other conference panels will focus on post-traumatic stress disorder and problem gambling, and on a state-wide project to infuse problem-gambling awareness and prevention into the treatment of substance abuse and mental health.
 
The conference is sponsored by Foxwoods, Mohegan Sun, the Midwestern Connecticut Council on Alcoholism and other regional programs, which also fund the problem gambling council.