Mohegan — Mohegan Sun’s tribal owners announced Tuesday that over the next five years they will invest $2 million in the Yale School of Medicine’s ongoing development of an app-based program aimed at treating problem gambling through a process known as cognitive behavioral therapy.
The announcement came at a news media event at the Mohegan Community and Government Center on Crow Hill Road.
“This will revolutionize the treatment of problem gambling,” said Ray Pineault, president and chief executive officer of Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment, the casino’s corporate parent.
Pineault and Mohegan tribal leaders were joined by Yale School of Medicine officials, the executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, the president and CEO of the American Gaming Association and representatives of Gov. Ned Lamont’s administration.
The Mohegan Tribe’s investment represents part of its response to the 2021 legislation that legalized online casino gaming and sports betting in the state. The tribe also has increased its $300,000-a-year contribution to the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling and has contributed more than $10 million to problem-gambling programs and services since Mohegan Sun’s 1996 opening, Pineault said.
Proven effective in the treatment of depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions, including substance abuse, cognitive behavioral therapy, commonly known as CBT, has yet to be applied to gambling addiction.
Brian Kiluk, an associate professor of psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, said the Mohegan investment will enable Yale researchers to adapt a computer-based CBT program a Yale team developed years ago to treat substance abuse and dependence. Kiluk, a member of that team, said a goal of an app-based program designed to treat problem gambling will be to reach underserved populations.
A form of talk therapy, CBT deals with patterns of thinking and beliefs and seeks to help people recognize…