Gambling treatment experts attend conference in K-C

Experts from Iowa’s gambling treatment program are learning and teaching at a conference in Kansas City. Program director Frank Biagoli says the conference includes people from the states surrounding Iowa. He says it’s a four-state effort to address problems brought on by gambling. Biagoli says several people from Iowa will make presentations at the conference. Biagoli says he’s been asked to speak about barriers to treatment, Psychiatry professor Donald Black of the University of Iowa will speak, as will Kermit Dahlen of the Jackson Recovery Center in Sioux City and Lisa Pierce who directs the Central Iowa Gambling Treatment program in Windsor Heights. The conference includes participants from Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska. Those three states don’t have large concentrations of casino gambling like Iowa does, but Biagoli says they get some bleed over across their borders. He says they’re exhibiting some problems from casino gambling, as well as internet gambling and sports gambling. Biagoli says the conference is trying to share ideas on how to deal with all types of gambling.He says they’re trying to work address the issues to improve their practices and manage the consequences, which he says is the theme of the conference. The conference runs through Friday.