NATIONAL GAMBLING IMPACT STUDY COMMISSION

MR. GERSTEIN: Thank you, Commissioner McCarthy, Madam Chair, members of the Commission. I'm the research vice president at NORC. My name is Dean Gerstein. We're very appreciative of the opportunity both to address the Commission and discuss questions at this meeting and more generally, the opportunity to carry out this research with and on behalf of the Commission. My colleagues here today represent the working task management and project director for this project at NORC.

On my right and in the order in which we're prepared to give you a brief overview of the report as a whole, but we are intending to pull together over the course of the next ten months or so, and each of the components of them. Cindy Veldman to my right is the project director. She's a graduate of the University of Chicago, the college as well as the School of Public Policy. To her right, Sam Schildhaus. Dr. Schildhaus is a graduate of City College of New York and Syracuse University's Maxwell School. Howard Speizer is a graduate of the University of Michigan and DePaul University, and he is in charge of the telephone interviewing and related production aspects of the project at NORC for this particular project and a number of others. And Laszlo Engelman, a graduate of UCLA, is a member of NORC statistics department -- I'm sorry -- the University of Southern California.

Without any further discussion, let me just say that we are simply going to cover the highlights here. We're very anxious to answer any questions at this meeting or subsequently. If I didn't finish Sam's credentials, he's a political scientist graduate of the Syracuse University with a Ph.D in political science at Maxwell School.

Cindy, would you take over as project director and give us an overview of what we're going to do? Thank you.