Ohio State center leading charge against problem gambling

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Ohio State center leading charge against problem gambling

Issue can be devastating for college students

Since opening at The Ohio State University in 2015, the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Drug Misuse Prevention and Recovery (HECAOD) has been developing college campus professionals who support alcohol and drug misuse prevention.

Beginning in 2023, HECAOD expanded its portfolio to focus on a new campus issue: gambling.

"The idea that college students are at higher risk of experiencing harms from gambling is not a new idea," said Cindy Clouner, managing director. "Folks doing work in the community gambling space have known that for a long time. But on campuses, it's not been on our radar."

HECAOD established the Collegiate Problem Gambling Workgroup in 2023 to better learn what campuses are facing.

"It was necessary to understand quickly if we were going to do this work well," said Jim Lange, the center's executive director. "We invited all the people that we could find. It began to snowball - people were bringing other folks they knew. It's been really helpful."

One of the reasons that gambling can be a hard problem to track is that it's not an obvious one.

"It's a quieter issue," Clouner said. "When students are experiencing harm from alcohol, they may be throwing up, being loud and obnoxious, vandalizing things. It can be easier to identify someone who may be impaired by substances. With the advent of online gambling, though, a student could be gambling on their phone, and no one would know."

Gambling's long-term impacts can be crippling, Lange said.

"We see that financial stress is a barrier to completing a college degree," he said. "A gambling issue can be a risk factor for suicidal ideation and attempts. When you get to that extreme, it is literally deadly."

HECAOD works closely with the Office of Student Life's Student Wellness Center.

"Many campuses aren't resourced like we are," Clouner said. "We're lucky at Ohio State. We have a large wellness center with multiple staff."

Helping other schools develop resources is how HECAOD will use a $40,000 Agility Grant from the National Council on Problem Gambling, which the center received last year. HECAOD partners with the National Consortium of State Coalitions (NCSC) to reach campuses across the country.

"That group is made up of more than 30 statewide coalitions," Clouner said. "They all operate differently and have different goals, but they bring together campus professionals who are focused on health and well-being initiatives."

HECAOD will provide a turnkey training on collegiate gambling to NCSC members, who will then be able to deliver the training at their member institutions. Clouner said their goal is to reach 1,000 campuses.

"There may be one person doing all the wellness work at a university," she said. "Putting something else on their plate is unrealistic. This way, we've established a go-to person in a region that multiple campuses can work with to develop knowledge and skills, provide resources and more."

And these resources aren't just for students worried about their own gambling.

"Sometimes a friend is seeking help," Lange said. "They have a relationship with someone and they're concerned about that person. That's been identified as a really important component of the training of students."

"If you're concerned about yourself or someone else's behavior," Clouner said, "there are trained people who can help you get connected with resources."

For additional resources, please visit The Ohio State University Wellness Center website: https://swc.osu.edu/. The Ohio Gambling Telehealth Network can be reached at 614-324-0109. Information from the National Council on Problem Gambling is available at its website: https://www.ncpgambling.org/help-treatment/.

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