About EMERGE
EMERGE is a science-based curriculum designed to teach gaming employees about gambling disorders and responsible gaming. It is the only responsible gaming training program developed by Harvard Medical School faculty.
Although grounded in the newest scientific research on disordered gambling behavior, EMERGE was developed for a sixth- to eighth-grade reading level, ensuring its accessibility to a workforce with varying levels of education. EMERGE uses state-of-the art Web-based learning technology to provide a self-paced program.
Origins of EMERGE
Although EMERGE represents a new standard for employee education, the gaming industry has been implementing employee and public education programs on responsible gaming since the 1980s. In the U.S., these efforts were expanded when in 1995, the commercial casino companies in the United States established the American Gaming Association (AGA). The AGA built on these individual company efforts, developing industry-wide responsible gaming programs.
In 2003, the AGA adopted the Code of Conduct for Responsible Gaming, a complete set of guidelines governing employee and customer education, underage gambling, alcohol service, advertising and research. The code is a commitment to employees, patrons and the public to make responsible gaming an integral part of daily operations.
To meet the need for greater understanding of gambling addiction, AGA members provided funding in 1996 for the creation of the National Center for Responsible Gaming (NCRG), an independent, nonprofit organization devoted exclusively to funding peer-reviewed, scientific research on disordered gambling and public education about the issue.
In 2000, the NCRG provided financing for the Institute for Research on Pathological Gambling and Related Disorders, a program of the Division on Addictions (DOA) at Harvard Medical School (now a part of The Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge Health Alliance, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School). The Institute supports research conducted by Dr. Howard Shaffer’s team at the DOA and at institutions worldwide through a competitive grants program.
In 2003, the NCRG board of directors identified employee education as a priority for translating NCRG-funded research into practical applications for the gaming industry. The board encouraged the Institute to begin developing an employee education program that would be based on the new research on gambling disorders.
The Institute is a program of the Division on Addictions, which was established by Harvard Medical School in 1990 to direct the school's educational, medical and scientific resources toward alleviating the vast and complex array of public heath problems caused by addictive behaviors. The mission of the DOA is to strengthen worldwide understanding of addiction through innovative research, education, and the global exchange of information. The ultimate goal is to alleviate the individual, social, medical, and economic burdens caused by addictive behaviors.
The research portfolio of the DOA covers a broad range of addictive disorders including alcohol and gambling. In particular, the faculty’s gambling research has yielded many “firsts,” including the first reliable prevalence estimates; the first national study of college gambling behaviors and policies on campuses; the first study of the health risks of casino employees; the first framing of gambling as a public health issue; and the first to propose a new understanding of addiction as syndrome.
The DOA has a strong commitment to translating this research to audiences beyond academia through continuing medical education for physicians and allied health professionals; the development of school curricula; co-sponsorship of the annual NCRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction; and The BASIS (Brief Addiction Science Information Source; www.basisonline.org).