By GREGORY ZELLER //
A world-class resort casino may be coming to Uniondale, Jake’s 58 Casino Hotel is set for a multimillion-dollar expansion in Islandia, a Hard Rock Hotel & Casino may rise alongside Citi Field – and one of Long Island’s busiest social-service agencies is working hard to help Islanders bet with their heads, not over them.
The Garden City-based Family & Children’s Association has announced the opening of two FCA Gambling Support and Wellness Centers, one in Hempstead and the other in Hicksville.
Leveraging fresh certifications – focused specifically on gambling-related issues – from Albany’s Office of Addiction Services and Supports, the new Gambling Support and Wellness Centers will offer individual, group and family counseling, including financial counseling and planning for problem gamblers who’ve dug themselves a fiscal hole.
There are many on Long Island. Combining casinos, racetracks, the state lottery system and online sports betting (legal in New York as of 2021, with online casino gambling likely to follow soon), there are plenty of ways to place your bets in Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Jeffrey Reynolds: Safe bet.
Gambling has quickly become a massive New York State industry – mobile sports betting alone generated $1.75 billion in revenues in its second year in New York – and an alluring risk in a nation where as many as 6 million people have a gambling problem.
Enter the nonprofit FCA, which recognized an “imperative … to introduce important new programs such as this one,” according to President and CEO Jeffrey Reynolds.
Joined by FCA Assistant Vice President for Clinical Services Nicolle Vasselman and representatives of the New York State Problem Gambling Resource Centers, Jake’s 58 and Las Vegas Sands – the Nevada-based mothership behind the $4 billion Sands New York proposal – Reynolds heralded the new wellness centers Tuesday, noting Long Island’s leading health and human services nonprofit felt compelled to act “as the need emerges.”
“As problem gambling continues to surge, particularly among young people ages 25 to 34, we want to make the resources readily available to Long Islanders who need or want help,” Reynolds said.
Pam Brenner-Davis, regional team leader for the Problem Gambling Resource Centers, agreed that as Long Island “sees a continued expansion of gambling opportunities, the need for comprehensive care is growing.”
Pam Brenner-Davis: Comprehensive collaboration.
“The [Family and Children’s Association] is a strong partner in the community,” Brenner-Davis added. “We look forward to further collaboration to address gambling harms.”
The FCA Gambling Support and Wellness Centers will be playing with house money to start: Las Vegas Sands – a leading global developer/operator of integrated resorts, which combine casinos with hotels, theme parks and other non-gambling attractions – on Tuesday trumpeted a $200,000 donation to bolster the centers, the latest in a string of community-oriented gestures made by the Nevada-based casino king.
“We’re proud to partner with FCA, an organization that’s been a staple on Long Island for 140 years,” said Las Vegas Sands Vice President Ron Reese Sr., who joined Reynolds et al for Tuesday’s announcements. “They will be providing a valuable resource to the community to those who might need it.”
