On Wednesday morning, large groups of people will grace the gaming floors of two Cleveland-area casinos. These will not be roulette savants or slot aficionados, but rather professionals who work in the prevention and treatment of gambling addiction.

These property tours, which are conducted by casino staff, are the brainchild of the Problem Gambling Network of Ohio (PGNO), and Wednesday’s visits — conducted at JACK Cleveland and JACK Thistledown, the latter of which is a slots-only racino housed at a horse racetrack — will occur during Problem Gambling Awareness Month, which lasts through the end of March.

The PGNO has been organizing these tours, which are free to anyone who takes the time to register in advance, since 2016.

“We were the first organization like ours to do this and are still one of the only ones,” Mike Buzzelli, the PGNO’s associate director, told US Bets. “It’s a nice opportunity for workforce professionals to walk the floor, get a sense of what the atmosphere is like. We have a great relationship with the operators in our state.”

Property tours ‘tie it all together’

While the property tours are open to the public, Buzzelli says “mainly it’s prevention and treatment professionals” who attend and that each tour draws about 30 registrants. The 90-minute engagement is split between a 45-minute site tour and a 45-minute question-and-answer session.

“It’s a great opportunity for Q&A with frontline people,” Buzzelli explained, adding that the treatment providers are often added to a venue’s resource directory and later host tables on the casino floor.

“You start to create some professional relationships with the staff at casinos and racinos,” said Nabil Pervaiz, manager of prevention services at Recovery Resources in Cleveland and a repeat tour attendee. “One of the things we’ve done outside of the property tours is having our coalition come onsite to do resource tables. One guy (a staff member) recognized us and was excited to see we were here. Some people would ask him why there’s a table over there, and he’d be like, ‘You’ve got to check it out.’ He was always a huge advocate, sending people our way.

“You have so many great conversations with patrons who are coming in. It creates a stronger bond with the system, being able to work together to offer trainings for their own staff at casinos and racinos. The property tours tie it all together.”

Ohio model ‘very unique’

Ed Dick, the compliance manager at JACK Cleveland, told US Bets that state regulatory staffers often attend the property tours alongside treatment providers.

“Our regulators in Ohio are very good, specifically from the RG (responsible gambling) side of things,” said Dick. “They’re involved in a lot of the processes that we have. They review our collateral, rules, and signage to make sure it’s up to their standards.”

Dick said he’s incorporated many suggestions on these fronts. On Wednesday, JACK management will walk the treatment providers and regulators through the RG trainings provided to staff in hopes of garnering more feedback.

“The Ohio model — the collaboration between operators, regulators, and treatment providers — it’s very unique,” said Dick. “It’s very important to us, being as active as we are. It’s a great thing for everybody involved.”

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