Empowering Players to Pause

Kahlil Philander

Dr. Kahlil Philander is an Assistant Professor in the School of Hospitality Business Management. He also holds an appointment as an Honorary Lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Sydney. His research interests are in the socio-economics of gambling. Previously, he was the Director of Social Responsibility at the British Columbia Lottery Corporation where he oversaw the GameSense program. Dr. Philander also spent time as an Assistant Professor and Director of Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ International Gaming Institute. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, an MA in economics from the University of Toronto, and a BCom with Honors in finance from the University of British Columbia.

Debi A. LaPlante

Dr. Debi LaPlante is director of the Division on Addiction at the Cambridge Health Alliance, and an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She joined the Division in 2001 and is involved with its diverse research, education, training, and outreach activities. With her colleagues, she developed the Syndrome Model of Addiction, and co-edited the two volume APA Addiction Syndrome Handbook. She has authored dozens of book chapters, journal articles, and reports. Dr. LaPlante authored the Harvard Health Publishing ebook Responsible Drinking for Women. Dr. LaPlante’s current research involves assessments of public health treatment and intervention systems, studies of actual gambling and daily fantasy sports behavior, and tribal participatory research to develop a culturally grounded, mental health first-response training program, xaʔtu̓s (Salish for First Face) for Mental Health. In addition to these activities, Dr. LaPlante is a member of the editorial team for the Division’s The Brief Addiction Science Information Source. She also has been a course director for online and live continuing education courses for addiction, and for gambling-related problems specifically. She is a regular reviewer for research grants and academic journal submissions. Dr. LaPlante spearheaded the Division’s Cambridge Health Alliance Readiness for Gambling Expansion initiative, which features Gambling Disorder Screening Day on the second Tuesday of March annually. Dr. LaPlante has a PhD in Social Psychology from Harvard University.

Brett Abarbanel

Brett Abarbanel is director of research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas International Gaming Institute, with an affiliate position at the University of Sydney. She has expertise in global gambling and social science applications, and her research covers Internet gambling policy and behavior, esports and gambling, operations and technology, and responsible gambling and community relations. Dr. Abarbanel is the co-executive editor of the UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal, editorial board member at International Gambling Studies and Harvard’s Division on Addiction’s Brief Addiction Science Information Source, and recently completed a term on the International Advisory Panel for Singapore’s National Council on Problem Gambling. She has been interviewed as a gambling expert for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Discovery Channel and served as a consultant for multiple industry and government entities. She is a founding director of the Nevada Esports Alliance, which promotes development of best practices at the intersection of the esports and regulated gambling industries. Dr. Abarbanel was honored by The Innovation Group with their 2015 Emerging Leader Award, and was named to the 2016 Global Gaming Business 40 Under 40 list. She completed her B.S. in Statistics and B.A. in Architectural Studies at Brown University, where she received the Hartshorn Hypatia Award for excellence in mathematics. She completed her M.S. and Ph.D. at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she received the Best Thesis and Best Dissertation awards for her work on sportsbook patronage and online gambling user experiences, respectively.

Elizabeth Cronan

Elizabeth Cronan serves as Vice President of Government Relations for GeoGuard, where she leads federal regulatory, policy and advocacy initiatives focused on driving awareness of the value of authentic geolocation for fraud prevention, detection and strengthening AML/KYC processes. As Trustee of Conscious Gaming, Elizabeth utilizes her experience to empower and unite the industry behind consumer protection. Prior to joining GeoGuard and Conscious Gaming, Elizabeth served as the Senior Director of Gaming Policy for the American Gaming Association (AGA), where she led the AGA’s policy and regulatory affairs agenda which included AML / BSA compliance issues as well as CSR and responsible gaming initiatives.

Seth Palansky

Seth Palansky is a highly accomplished business leader with more than 20 years of executive experience in Corporate Communications on behalf of blue chip U.S. corporations including the National Football League (NFL), News Corp (Fox Sports) and Caesars Entertainment. He successfully managed corporate communications for Caesars Entertainment’s Interactive division as it’s VP, Corporate Communications from 2008-2020, and prior to that for the National Football League (NFL) as Communications Director. At Conscious Gaming, which he joined in 2020, Seth contributes his multifaceted expertise in Corporate Communications, Media Relations, Crisis Communications, Social Media Strategy and as a Company Spokesperson to solidify, deliver and advance social responsibility initiatives.

Anna Sainsbury

Anna Sainsbury has over ten years of experience in regulation and compliance across both the land-based and online gaming industries. As the Co-founder and Chairman of GeoComply, Anna works with operators, regulators and vendors in the emerging US online gaming market to harness the latest technologies to ensure compliance with governing laws. Most recently, Anna established Conscious Gaming, a non-profit whereby she seeks to work collaboratively with industry, as a Trustee, to propel social responsibility initiatives in responsible gaming, anti-human trafficking and other areas.