Digital Symposium

Gambling disorder is a serious mental health condition, yet it often exists at the margins of mental health and addiction treatment systems. This session will explore strategies to integrate gambling disorder treatment into broader behavioral health services, ensuring that individuals receive comprehensive, coordinated care. Special emphasis will be placed on addressing the needs of specialized populations, including those with co-occurring mental health or substance use disorders, and neurodiverse individuals such as those with ADHD or autism. Presenters will make the case for integrating gambling disorder alongside substance use and mental health services, discuss how cross-sector collaboration can improve treatment outcomes, and highlight models of care that successfully embed gambling screening and treatment into existing systems. Attendees will gain tools to improve identification, referral, and culturally competent treatment pathways for those experiencing gambling-related harm.

Though widely recognized as a harm reduction strategy, self-exclusion remains underutilized and inconsistently implemented across jurisdictions, platforms, and gambling products – limiting its effectiveness and reach. This three-hour digital symposium brings together leading experts to examine the current landscape of self-exclusion, spotlight recent innovations, and address persistent challenges related to accessibility, implementation, and user engagement. Presenters will share findings from secret shopper studies assessing the reliability of casino-based programs and explore barriers that hinder broader adoption. The session will offer insights into how self-exclusion can be reimagined as a more accessible, practical, and empowering tool for behavior change within a modern harm reduction framework.

Peer support and community-based initiatives play a critical role in Problem Gambling recovery. This Digital Symposium will explore strategies for bridging clinical treatment with Gambler’s Anonymous and other community-based recovery initiatives, highlighting implementation of peer support programs in New York, North Carolina, and beyond. Attendees will gain practical strategies for integrating peer support into treatment, increasing awareness, and strengthening recovery networks to better serve individuals affected by problem gambling.