Community Outreach Programs and National Problem Gambling Awareness Month (PGAM)

For more than three decades, the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling (FCCG) has provided diverse and widespread services to individuals, families, institutions, addiction, treatment and prevention providers, gambling operators and others who have been negatively impacted by a gambling problem or provide assistance to suffering persons. These services entail in-person, online, and mobile referrals across multiple forms of supports, including counseling with licensed and certified treatment providers, to problem gamblers, family members (in particular, spouses, cohabitants and/or partners), and other concerned persons (e.g., friends, colleagues, others). As well, the FCCG provides extensive training and outreach programs throughout Florida.

The FCCG, in collaboration with gambling operators, widely advertises the 888-ADMIT-IT HelpLine in gambling facilities throughout the state (e.g., via posters, literature, collateral items, notifications on gambling machines and ATMs, in operator advertisements and facility programs, on their websites, on entryway kiosks, and through conversations with facility personnel, per FCCG training). The FCCG’s 888-ADMIT-IT HelpLine service is promoted on lottery tickets, on billboards in key locations, and on multiple search engines, as well as on social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, Reddit, and LinkedIn.

Given the FCCG’s mission, which is to increase public awareness about problem, compulsive, and disordered gambling while advocating for services and supports for individuals in need of assistance, its HelpLine continues to serve as the primary statewide problem gambling resource center. While the FCCG has provided problem gambling awareness, prevention, education, and training services since its inception, the need for ongoing development and implementation of new and diverse supports, made available through the 888-ADMIT-IT HelpLine, has placed the organization in the forefront as a free service to all residents of Florida while also assisting in national efforts to help problem gamblers and their families. As a single-stop resource center, the FCCG continues to serve as an educational body, assuring necessary research, outreach, public awareness, prevention, education, and training services.

National Problem Gambling Awareness Month (PGAM)

Problem Gambling Awareness Month (PGAM) in a national grassroots advocacy campaign that occurs each year in March, and provides the opportunity for heightened problem gambling awareness, both in the State of Florida and across the country. During each annual PGAM campaign, the FCCG leverages the national spotlight on gambling addiction to provide widespread education and awareness about the disorder and resources available for help through the 888-ADMIT-IT HelpLine.

Visit the PGAM Microsite to learn more about the current campaign and how your organization can become a partner.