The Shippensburg University Police Department, in collaboration with the university Office of Student Development, was awarded a $42,000 Local Law Enforcement grant by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PBCG). The PGCB grant program was created to support “activities related to the identification, prevention, deterrence, enforcement, investigation or prosecution of activities involving unlawful gambling.”
According to CollegeGambling.org, 75 percent of college students have gambled in the last year, but only 22 percent of colleges have policies around gambling. Most do not have educational or deterrence programing, despite the prevalence of gambling in students. With the opening of Parx Casino® Shippensburg in the fall of 2022, the university will establish both.
The grant will support a gambling addiction and illegal gambling education campaign that will include a video, social media and poster campaign as well as web content and resources. It will also fund a graduate assistant position that will coordinate educational programs related to gambling addiction and illegal gambling.
A gambling task force will also be established and will include members of the campus community, greater Shippensburg community and law enforcement. The task force will assess the programing provided and will work to revise the university’s Student Code of Conduct to include illegal gambling.
