The British Columbia Lottery Corporation is expanding the Game Sense Advisor program to Chances Casino in Kamloops.

The role will be filled by Melodie Greco, and she’ll help connect people to various supports that are available.

Dr. Jamie Wiebe is BCLC’s Director of Player Health and says people don’t necessarily have to come forward when they have issues.

“It’s looking at the needs of the community but also building on the success of the program and just the value that players are getting from it,” she said. “It’s from getting information to getting the support and assistance and the evaluations that we’ve conducted have shown great benefits as a result.”

“We want to make sure that all customers have access to them.”

Cascades Casino already has a Game Sense Advisor in place for several years, and Wiebe says the program will evolve based on the need.

“It depends on the location, it depends on how large the venue is,” she noted. “We are really looking at busy times in the venues.”

“We’re looking at when people are most likely to self exclude. It’s a work in progress. We are continually trying to improve scheduling so that we are there meeting the needs of the players at the right time.”

Wiebe says the Game Sense Advisor can also help people connect with other resources available in the community at large.

BCLC says in 2018, GameSense Advisors had approximately 55,000 interactions with players at casinos.