"The Big Gamble" -- March 11 symposium examined effects, coverage of gambling in New England

The first panel addressed the business, government and social impacts of casinos and will be moderated by William "Liam" O'Brien, a media-production professor at Quinnipiac University who produced a film on gambling for the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling. Participants included  (in alphabetical order):

-- Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut attorney general, former federal prosecutor, legislator, who has focused on consumer protection, environmental stewardship, labor rights and personal privacy.

-- Bruce MacDonald, chief spokesman for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation and a former broadcast journalist. McDonald replaces Barry J. Cregan, interim president of the Foxwoods casino in southeastern Connecticut, who originally agreed to participate.

-- Dan O'Connell, Massachusetts secretary of economic development, and the prime proponent of Massachusetts Gov. Duval Patrick’s propose to license three casinos in the Bay State. O’Connell is an attorney and former real-estate developer and a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

-- Rachel A. Volberg, Ph.D., of Gemini Associates, Northampton, Mass. An adjunct professor at the UMass Dept. of Public Health, Dr. Volberg is one of the nation's leading researchers on the social effects of legalized gambling.

The second 30-minute panel will cover the challenge of reporting on the news and effects of casinos in Connecticut. Guiding the discussion was Bill Densmore of the NENF. Participants will include (in alphabetical order):

-- Carolyn Lumsden, editorial-page editor for the Hartford Courant. Lumsden is a former reporter for The Associated Press in Springfield, Mass. She replaced Maura J. Casey, an editorial-writer for the New York Times, originally scheduled to participate, who sustained a temporarily disabling back injury over the weekend.

-- David Collins, editorial columnist at The Day, in New London, Conn. A graduate of Connecticut College, he began covering the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation for The Day just before the tribe opened the first phase of its Foxwoods casino in 1992.

-- Marvin Steinberg , founder/director of the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling , a private, non-profit group which works with grants from casinos, the state and the public to reduce the prevalence and impact of pathological gambling.

-- Gale Corey Toensing, staff reporter, Indian Country Today. A Canaan, Conn., resident, Toensing covers New England for one of the nation's leading Native American news sources, published by the Oneida Nation of New York. She was formerly a correspondent for the Waterbury Republican-American and a free-lance writer, designer and editor.

VIDEO SCREENINGS

O’Brien’s 30-minute docu-drama, “21,” produced in high-definition video with a $25,000 grant from the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling, was shot by students with the collaboration of the gambling council and cooperation of a Connecticut casino. It follows the experience of student gamblers. It was be screened at 4 p.m. and again at 4:30 p.m., in Alumni Hall on the Quinnpiac campus, also free and public.

A second film, "Buffet: All You Can Eat in Las Vegas" by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Assistant Professor Natasha Dow Schull, was shown after the end of "21" and before the start of the 6 p.m. reception. Schull's film chronciles her research on the gambling industry for her doctoral thesis in cultural anthropology. The film is scheduled to be screened on PBS later this year and is being shown once by special permission of Schull, who cannot attend due to another engagement. Schull is also the author of the book, Machine Life: Control and Compulsion in Las Vegas.

"The Big Gamble: The Costs, Benefits and Coverage of Casinos," was the first event in Connecticut organized by the New England News Forum. The forum, based at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, received a two-year grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation last year to experiment with new forms of citizen-media accountability and dialog.

CONTACTS:

Bill Densmore, Executive Director

The New England News Forum

108 Bartlett Hall

University of Massachusetts

Amherst MA 01003 413-577-4370 / CELL: 413-458-8001

bdensmore@newenglandnews.org

http://www.newenglandnews.org

Rick Hancock

Assistant Dean

School of Communications

275 Mount Carmel Ave.

Hamden CT 06518-1908

203-582-8501

rick.hancock@quinnipiac.edu

http://www.quinnipiac.edu