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There's a magic to gumbo, the spicy stew (or is it soup?) that is the signature dish of Cajun and Creole country. Years ago,
in college, I learned to make gumbo from Stella, a dear friend who hails from New Iberia, Louisiana. She taught me to brown
the flour and oil to a dark rich color, to ease in the finely chopped onions, bell pepper, and celery and cook them gently
until they soften, to add spices and broth, and then to simmer everything together for hours until the meat falls off the
bones and the vegetables melt into the broth and the smell fills the air. When I cook gumbo at home, people make excuses to
walk through the kitchen, taking deep breaths and eagerly awaiting the moment when we sit down at the table to eat big bowls
of gumbo poured over mounds of white rice, using slices of crispy garlic bread to mop up the last drops. The smell always
lingers overnight so that I wake up the next morning savoring memories of a delicious meal with good friends.
This past June, I had the pleasure of participating in a very special day of presentations and discussion at the 19th National
Conference on Prevention, Research, and Treatment of Problem Gambling organized by the National Council on Problem Gambling.
The Louisiana Association on Compulsive Gambling was our gracious host at the lovely Hotel Monteleone in the French Quarter
of pre-Katrina New Orleans.
The goal of the day was to bring together some of the best and brightest minds in the problem gambling field and ask these
people to consider our present knowledge and likely future directions for research in the areas of etiology, treatment, prevention,
policy, and public health, and considerations for DSM-V. Each speaker was asked to prepare and present only five slides, with
time after each presentation for discussion among the presenters and members of the audience.
The day started with a presentation by Alex Blaszczynski on the “pathways model” that is proving to be an important theoretical
breakthrough in the field. This was followed by a session on problem gambling etiology that started with considerations of
genetics and neurobiology but then moved to environmental issues. The session on problem gambling prevention addressed harm
reduction and the possibilities of designing “safe” gaming machines and considered how states can develop a continuum of problem
gambling services with a particular focus on the role of problem gambling help lines. This was followed by a session on problem
gambling treatment that considered pharmacology, cognitive behavioral therapy, and brief interventions, as well as outcome
assessment and training and certification issues. The final session of the day took up questions related to improving our
understanding of problem gambling and included consideration of theoretical models and empirical data, asking where pathological
gambling best fits in the larger DSM universe.
Something magical happened in New Orleans that day—we cooked up a “gumbo” that brought together established researchers and
young Turks, put important ideas on the table for extended consideration, and left a real legacy for others in the field.
It was a day filled with old and new friends and with stimulating conversation that lasted through the full arc of a long
summer day and left us all with deeply satisfying memories to wake up to the next day. May this gumbo perfume the air again
soon!
Rachel Volberg President and Chair of the Executive Committee National Council on Problem Gambling For correspondence: rvolberg@geminiresearch.com The Journal of Gambling Issues (JGI) offers an Internet-based forum for developments in gambling-related research, policy and treatment as well as personal accounts
about gambling and gambling behaviour. Through publishing peer-reviewed articles about gambling as a social phenomenon and
the prevention and treatment of gambling problems, it is our aim is to help make sense of how gambling affects us all.
The JGI is published by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and is fully funded by the Ontario Substance Abuse Bureau of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care. We welcome manuscripts
submitted by researchers and clinicians, people involved in gambling as players, and family and friends of gamblers.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this journal do not necessarily reflect those of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
The Journal of Gambling Issues is a member of the International Society of Addiction Journal Editors and supports the Farmington Consensus statement on
ethical standards in publishing: http://www-users.york.ac.uk/∼sjp22/isaje/farmington.htm Editor Phil Lange Editorial Board Bruce Ballon, Peter Ferentzy, Nina Littman-Sharp, Robert Murray, Wayne Skinner, Tony Toneatto, Nigel E. Turner, and Martin Zack, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Advisory Board Peter Adams, Dept. of Psychiatry & Behavioural Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Will Bennis, Max Planck Institute, Berlin, Germany
Alex Blaszczynski, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Jeffrey L. Derevensky, International Center for Youth Gambling Problems and High-Risk Behaviors, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Mark Griffiths, Psychology Division, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, U.K.
David C. Hodgins, Dept. of Psychology, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Edward Kwan, Independent practice, Hong Kong, China
Ray McNeil, Nova Scotia Department of Health, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Lia Nower, School of Social Welfare, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, Misouri, U.S.A.
Nancy Petry, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut, U.S.A.
María Prieto, Dept. of Psychological Intervention, University P. Comillas, Madrid, Spain
Lusanda U.Z. Rataemane, National Gambling Board, Hatfield, Pretoria, South Africa
Gerda Reith, Dept. of Sociology, Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland
Cesar A. Sanchez-Bello, Pathological Gambling Section of Latin-American Psychiatric Association, Isla de Margarita, Venezuela
Målfrid Todal, Division of Psychiatry, St. Olav's Hospital, Trondheim, Norway
Rachel A. Volberg, Gemini Research, Ltd., Northampton, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Monica L. Zilberman, Institute of Psychiatry, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Reviewers Peter Adams, Dept. of Psychiatry & Behavioural Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Alex Blaszczynski, School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Linda Chamberlain, Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
Gerry Cooper, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Jeff Derevensky, Youth Gambling Research & Treatment Clinic, Dept of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal,
Quebec, Canada
William Eadington, Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming, University of Nevada at Reno, Reno, Nevada, U.S.A.
Pat Erickson, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Jackie Ferris, Ferris Research, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
G. Ron Frisch, Problem Gambling Research Group, Dept of Psychology, University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Richard Govoni, Problem Gambling Research Group, Dept of Psychology, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Mark Griffiths, Psychology Division, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, U.K.
Rina Gupta, Youth Gambling Research & Treatment Clinic, Dept of Educational and Counselling Psychology, McGill University, Montreal,
Quebec, Canada
David C. Hodgins, Addiction Centre, Foothills Medical Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Roger Horbay, Game Planit Interactive Corp., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Alun C. Jackson, School of Social Work, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, New South Wales, Australia
Durand Jacobs, Loma Linda University Medical Center, Loma Linda, California, U.S.A.
Jeffrey Kassinove, Dept of Psychology, Monmouth University, West Long Branch, New Jersey, U.S.A.
David Korn, Dept. of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Igor Kusyszyn, Dept. of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Robert Ladouceur, École de Psychologie, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
Samuel Law, St. Michael's Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Henry Lesieur, Dept of Psychiatry, Rhode Island Hospital, Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.A.
Vanessa López-Viets, Dept of Psychology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A.
Ray MacNeil, Nova Scotia Department of Health, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Virginia McGowan, Addictions Counselling Program, The University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
Goldie Millar, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Daniela Penickova, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, U.S.A.
María Prieto, Dept. of Psychological Intervention, University P. Comillas, Madrid, Spain
Gerda Reith, Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, Scotland
Robin Room, Centre for Social Research on Alcohol and Drugs, University of Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden
Lisa Root, The Niagara Alcohol and Drug Assessment Service, St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada
Richard J. Rosenthal, UCLA Gambling Studies Program, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.
Loreen Rugle, Clinical and Research Services, Trimeridian, Inc., Carmel, Indiana, U.S.A.
Randy Stinchfield, University of Minnesota Medical School, St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A.
David Streiner, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
William Thompson, Dept. of Public Administration, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A.
Marianna Toce-Gerstein, NORC at the University of Chicago, Washington, D.C., U.S.A.
Lisa Vig, Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota, Fargo, North Dakota, U.S.A.
Rachel Volberg, Gemini Research, Ltd., Northampton, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Keith Whyte, National Council on Problem Gambling, Washington D.C., U.S.A.
Jamie Wiebe, Responsible Gambling Council (Ontario), Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Robert J. Williams, University of Lethbridge, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
Harold Wynne, Wynne Resources Ltd., Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Design Staff Graphic designer: Mara Korkola, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Copyright © 2020 | Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Journal Information
Journal ID (publisher-id): jgi
ISSN: 1910-7595
Publisher: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Article Information
© 1999-2005 The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Publication date: December 2005
Publisher Id: jgi.2005.15.20
DOI: 10.4309/jgi.2005.15.20
The smell of gumbo was in the air…
Article Categories:
Editor-in-chief: Nigel E. Turner, Ph.D.
Managing Editor: Vivien Rekkas, Ph.D. (contact)
Statement of purpose
Ethics and accountability