Jody Bechtold: “I don't call people problem gamblers, it’s a label”

Jody Bechtold, the CEO of The Better Institute, joins Šimon Vincze is Casino Guru's Head of Sustainable & Safer Gambling, for an insightful conversation on what it means to be a problem gambler and why labels do not help with treatment or overcoming what is a well-defined issue.

The conversation focused on understanding the difference between gambling as a disease and disorder, and the applicable treatment, but it went much farther, as Vincze notes.

Bechtold has explained what makes The Better Institute such an important organization and how it focuses on a different treatment approach that involves a person’s family and collaborations with multiple clinicians and draws from a broad expertise of understanding addictive behaviors.

Bechtold believes that semantics are important too, and "problem gamblers" is a label that she disapproves of. Instead, she suggests, people should use terms such as "individual with a gambling problem," and this approach could help reduce stigma and motivate more people to step forward and seek help.

Bechtold believes that despite the progress that has already been achieved in destigmatizing the activity, there is still a fair amount of it, and more awareness about the issues associated with gambling needs to be raised.

She similarly notes that depending on whom you ask, people have different perceptions of gambling and may stigmatize it based on generational and geographical differences.

There is a strong need for alignment of efforts between everyone involved, from industry to regulators, to clinicians, to even people with lived experiences who have grown to become an active and engaged party in addressing the issues that originate in gambling.

Operators, too, argue Bechtold needs to play a far more influential part in promoting solutions that address the problem head-on. A multi-pronged collaboration between regulators, treatment services, and operators is what it is going to take to ensure that players are finally safe.

Yet, the issue at hand is not "linear," but complex, as Bechtold puts it. No two cases are alike, and treatment services need to understand that – everyone needs to understand that to truly stem the epidemic of youth gambling – and problem gambling in general.

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