Resources: Gambling

April 16, 2026 | 11:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. ET

This spring’s Collegiate Gambling Learning Collaborative will provide a comprehensive look at how gambling behaviors affect student wellbeing, how they intersect with alcohol and other drug use, and what campus teams can do to respond effectively. Tune in and explore what campus clinicians need to know to identify gambling‑related harms, engage students in meaningful conversations, and connect them with support, while prevention specialists examine emerging trends, environmental risks, and ways to integrate gambling prevention into broader health promotion efforts. The collaborative will also address common barriers to incorporating gambling‑related work into wellness offices—such as limited awareness, competing priorities, and policy gaps—and offer practical, campus‑ready strategies to overcome them. Through shared learning, tailored programming ideas, and cross‑departmental collaboration approaches, attendees will gain tools to build a coordinated, evidence‑informed framework that strengthens student wellbeing and reduces gambling‑related harms across campus.

All session will be recorded and available to participants after the live session date.

Cost: $75 | Free for HECAOD Members (Individual, Institutional, ScreenU & Campus Members)
*Active Members will receive access early April*

A CHES/MCHES add-on can be added to your registration, $20 for Members & $30 for Non-Members. The live sessions are approved for 3.5 CHES/MCHES contact hours.

Sponsored by the Ohio State University Higher Education Center for Alcohol & Drug Misuse Prevention and Recovery/OSU College of Social Work  (MEP113333), a designated provider of continuing education contact hours (CECH) in health education by the National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc., this program (PM113333_041626) is designated for (CHES) and/or Master Certified Health Education Specialists (MCHES) to receive up to 3.5 total category I contact hours in health education. Maximum advance-level contact hours available are 1.

Opening Session

Examining Gambling and Its Impact on Student Mental and Physical Health

April 16, 2026 from 11:00 – 12:00 p.m. ET | Presented by Timothy Fong, M.D.

Gambling on college campuses has become a normalized and expected activity.  While often perceived and promoted as a recreational activity (or even as “side gig”) gambling can significantly affect students’ mental, physical, academic, and social well-being.   This session will examine the growing landscape of youth and student gambling, including emerging trends such as sports betting, online casinos, and gaming-related gambling mechanics (e.g., loot boxes). Participants will explore the psychological and neurobiological factors that make young people particularly vulnerable to gambling harms, as well as the connections between gambling behavior and mental and physical health outcomes.  The session will review screening strategies, prevention approaches and best practices in treatment that educators, healthcare providers, and campus professionals can implement to better support students.

Learning Objectives:

• Increase knowledge of the current landscape of youth and college student gambling, including common forms such as sports betting, online gambling, and gaming-related wagering.
• Name mental and physical health consequences associated with gambling disorder in a collegiate population.
• Develop and strengthen best practices that campuses can implement to reduce the spread of gambling disorder.
• Identify appropriate referral pathways and treatment resources for students experiencing gambling-related harm.

Concurring Breakout Sessions

Watch one live and view the recordings of others at a later date.

What Clinicians Need To Know About Collegiate Gambling

April 16, 2026 from 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. ET | Presented by Zachary Hitchens, MS, LCADC, NCC

Collegiate gambling is an emerging clinical concern with significant implications for students’ mental health, substance use, and overall wellbeing. Clinicians gain practical guidance for recognizing and responding to gambling‑related harm within college populations, including strategies for integrating brief, effective screening into everyday clinical practice. The content highlights actionable harm‑reduction approaches that support students’ safety and resilience and provides a curated collection of training opportunities, tools, and referral resources to strengthen clinical responses to gambling concerns.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify ways to infuse screening for gambling into clinical practice
• Name two harm reduction strategies to share with clients
• List places and resources that they can access for additional training

About the Presenter:

Zachary Hitchens currently serves as a Psychotherapist for Substance Abuse Services at Towson University’s Counseling Center. In his current role he provides counseling, recovery support, and prevention services to the campus community related to substance use and behavioral addictions. Over the past fourteen years he has provided clinical and prevention services at public and private universities and currently serves on the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Drug Misuse Prevention and Recovery’s training advisory committee and collegiate problem gambling working group. He is a licensed clinical alcohol and drug counselor, a nationally certified counselor, and is certified in treating behavioral addictions.

Bridging the Gap: Leveraging AOD Expertise for Collegiate Gambling Prevention

April 16, 2026 at 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. ET | Presented by Cindy Clouner, MPH, LSW, OCPS & Logan Davis, MA

You don’t need to be a “gambling expert” to prevention gambling-related harms among college students. In fact, you already possess the most important tools for the job. In this session, you will discover how to translate your existing mastery of alcohol and drug (AOD) prevention directly into the gambling space.

This session will explore strategies used within HECAOD’s You Bet? curriculum, an evidence-informed gambling education program for students. Learn what leading gambling researchers and practitioners felt was critical for students to know about gambling and sports betting and how HECAOD was able to apply the evidence-based prevention principles used when addressing high-risk alcohol use to the topic of gambling.  Leave this session with the language, knowledge and confidence to integrate gambling into your prevention portfolio.

Learning Objectives:

After this session, attendees will be able to:

• Compare and contrast how existing evidence-based AOD prevention strategies can be adapted to prevent gambling related harms
• Identify the role language plays in activating or reducing resistance among students
• Describe 3 strategies for integrating gambling-related education into programming or conversations with students

About Our Presenters:

Cindy Clouner, MPH, LSW, OCPS has served as the Managing Director of the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Drug Misuse Prevention and Recovery since 2017. She joined HECAOD in January of 2015 as a prevention specialist, providing support for Generation Rx and serving as the Program Manager for the Ohio College Initiative. Before transitioning to HECAOD, Cindy spent eight years coordinating school and community-based prevention in Ohio. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Social Work from Bowling Green State University and her Master of Public Health from The Ohio State University. She is a licensed social worker and an Ohio Certified Prevention Specialist.

Logan Davis, MA joined the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Drug Misuse Prevention and Recovery in January of 2019, serving as the Outreach and Engagement Manager before transitioning to his current role as HECAOD’s Gambling Education Specialist in February of 2026.. Prior to joining the Center Logan worked at Delta Gamma Executive Offices overseeing the organization’s prevention education. Logan obtained his Bachelor of Arts from Murray State University and his Master of Arts in Higher Education from Louisiana State University.

Closing Panel and Next Steps

Overcoming Barriers to Integrating Gambling into Health and Well-being Work on Campus

April 16, 2026 from 2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET | Panelists: Hannah Allen, PhD, Dolores Cimini, PhD, & Kelly Truesdell

Colleges and universities are increasingly recognizing the impact of problem gambling on student wellbeing—yet many campuses still face structural, cultural, and administrative barriers to addressing it effectively. Overcoming Barriers to Addressing Problem Gambling in Campus Health & Wellbeing brings together leaders from the University of Mississippi, University at Albany, and more to share practical strategies for gaining administrative buy‑in, building strong cross-campus partnerships, and collaborating with diverse student groups.

Through campus-tested examples, panel insights, and actionable tools, participants will learn how to engage senior administrators, connect with high‑impact student audiences—including student‑athletes, club sports, fraternity/sorority life, and financial aid recipients—and embed problem gambling prevention into existing wellness, education, and outreach frameworks.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe effective ways to communicate the importance of addressing gambling-related harms to senior leadership and articulate key messages that resonate with campus decision‑makers.
• Analyze approaches for collaborating with student‑athletes, club sports, fraternity and sorority life, financial aid offices, and other high‑impact groups to expand the reach of gambling-related harm prevention and education.
• Apply practical, campus-ready strategies to overcome structural and cultural barriers and embed gambling work into existing health promotion, counseling, and wellbeing programs.

About Our Presenters:

Dr. Hannah Allen-King is a researcher, academic, and administrator at the University of Mississippi. She currently serves as the Executive Director of the William Magee Institute for Student Wellbeing, where she leads research efforts related to behavioral health among young people. She also serves as a faculty member in the Department of Public Health and helped launch the university’s public health undergraduate and graduate programs.

Dr. M. Dolores Cimini is a New York State licensed psychologist and Senior Research Scientist Emeritus in the Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology. She is the former Director of the nationally recognized Middle Earth Peer Assistance Program and the Center for Behavioral Health Promotion and Applied Research. Dr. Cimini has led comprehensive efforts in research-to-practice translation at the University at Albany since 1990 with over $10 million in support from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women, and New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports. Dr. Cimini enjoys long-distance walking, traveling and listening to classical and modern music.

Kelly Truesdell, MPH, CHES is the Associate Director of Substance Use and Recovery Services at the University of Virginia, where she leads comprehensive prevention, early intervention, and recovery support initiatives that promote student well-being. Through her career, she has designed, implemented, and evaluated evidence-informed prevention strategies addressing substance use and interpersonal violence. Kelly oversees Well-Being Coaching and the Collegiate Recovery Program in her current role, ensuring inclusive support for students in recovery, including those impacted by gambling-related harms. She is currently pursuing her Doctorate in Public Health and holds a Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion and a Master of Public Health from the University of Georgia. Kelly is passionate about advancing university-wide strategies that foster university community partnerships, strengthen strategic planning, and maintain environments where all students can be successful.

Action Planning

Creating a Plan for Action

April 16, 2026 from 3:45 – 4:30 p.m. ET

Drawing on what you’ve learned throughout the day, this time will be dedicated to collaborating with others to explore how these ideas can be transformed into meaningful action on your campus.

Become a member of the Higher Education Center to access the recorded sessions of this learning collaborative and the entire library of HECAOD learning collaboratives. Memberships start at $150 annually.

Cancellation Policy

November 12, 2025

Utilizing the steps of the Strategic Prevention Framework, this handout can serve as a guide for campuses beginning to explore ways to incorporate high-risk gambling prevention efforts into their existing services across the continuum of care.

March 18th, 2025

February 15, 2023