Gambling Addiction in Las Vegas

Las Vegas Sun :

[Sun reporter J. Patrick] Coolican... shared an award with other Sun staff members for their examination of gambling addiction. Their report, which was printed in the Sun newspaper and more fully presented online with videos and interactive displays, won second place for multimedia storytelling.

Producing the gambling addiction project along with Coolican were reporter Liz Benston, videographer Scott Den Herder and website developers and designers Tyson Anderson, Levi Chronister and Danny DeBelius who, among other elements, developed an interactive slot machine to demonstrate gambling odds and the rate of losing money.

The project’s focus on a gambling addict was “very straightforward, personal and revealing,” judges said.

Best of the West was founded in 1987 to reward journalistic excellence and promote freedom of information. It operates a journalism contest for newspapers and newspaper-run Web sites in Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. The contest quickly became the region’s most prestigious awards competition, with about 2,000 entries each year.

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