Two years before the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem opened in May, it was shelling out money for training.

The intriguing aspect is it wasn't training its own employees. It paid for the Council on Compulsive Gambling of Pennsylvania to educate hundreds of counselors and therapists in Eastern Pennsylvania who wanted to learn how to treat gambling addiction.

The Bethlehem stand-alone casino, part of a national gaming corporation, also covered the cost of problem gambling training for local clergy, including some who had opposed the casino as preying upon a vulnerable population.

"It was just something that made sense to us," said Mickey Trageser, the casino's vice president of human resources. "It was the right thing to do."

It was a sign of how, by some measurements, Pennsylvania's casinos have shown an enlightened approach to problem gambling issues. Some of that may be because they have no choice.

The casinos must establish training programs for employees to raise their awareness of gambling addiction. They must widely advertise an 800 telephone number that those with problems can call. They must make literature available within the casino about gambling help.

Those are part of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board's standards, which are more stringent than is typical in the industry, according to analysts.

"There's a lot of lip service in Nevada, but not in Pennsylvania," in the attitude of both the casinos and state regulators, said Joanna Franklin, education coordinator for the state compulsive gambling council, a nonprofit organization based in Philadelphia.

She noted, "The Sands came in with an attitude of, 'We know people didn't want us, but what can we do to help? ... We're not here to pick your pockets.' "

The Bethlehem Sands received a national award from the National Council on Problem Gambling this summer for its efforts. The local Rivers Casino and The Meadows Racetrack & Casino have not been similarly lauded for exceeding expectations, but neither are they criticized by officials monitoring the industry.

Negative comments about them are more likely from gamblers who want to stop but feel ensnared by their marketing techniques, such as offers of free play and food. Casinos are forbidden from sending such materials to the 798 Pennsylvanians currently on the state's self-exclusion list, but their practice is to aggressively pursue other customers.

Rivers Casino officials declined to offer any comment about compulsive gambling issues beyond a printed statement outlining how they meet the gaming board's regulations. Casino General Manager Ed Fasulo maintained in an interview before the facility opened, "We don't want to coerce or entice anyone," noting it has all the customers it needs among the 2.4 million people living within a 50-mile radius.

Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, said efforts by the casinos opening in Pennsylvania since 2006 are part of a refreshing shift nationally.

"In newer states and jurisdictions where they're seeking licenses, going into new markets where they haven't operated before, generally they're doing what regulations require and above that," he said. "There's a sense this is something they get and they're going to do."

Nanette Horner, director of compulsive and problem gambling for the gaming board, said no casino can open in the state without providing a detailed plan of how its staff, building and marketing will take note of problem gambling. She said she typically forces revisions to the plans before approving them.

She described the Rivers Casino as providing an "excellent initial plan." Even so, she told its officials they should have bigger billboard lettering for the 1-800-GAMBLER help number and needed a procedure for providing lists of area Gamblers Anonymous meetings and treatment providers to anyone requesting them.

While plans may look good on paper, however, problems obviously occur. The gaming board recently fined the Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs $97,500 for 15 instances in which individuals younger than 21 were found playing machines or on the casino floor.

On 89 occasions, individuals on the state's self-exclusion list for compulsive gamblers have been found inside casinos. Casinos are supposed to make an effort to prevent those people from playing, though there is no foolproof way established to do so, and the gamblers, not the casinos, are the ones facing penalties.

Slots addicts seeking an incentive to stop may sign up for self-exclusion at a casino or at the gaming board's Pittsburgh office. They may volunteer to be excluded for one year, five years or a lifetime.

State police are to arrest the individual for trespassing, without exception, if they, the casino's security staff or a gaming board agent on the premises recognizes someone from the database kept for the nearly 800 on the list.

"There's no free ride, no warnings," Ms. Horner said of violators. "The warning is when you sign up."

One individual found that out in the first week of the Rivers Casino. He previously signed up for exclusion at The Meadows, then found himself tempted to play at the North Shore facility after receiving a mailing from it. He said he also volunteered for exclusion there after losing hundreds of dollars, but state police told him he was already on a statewide list that excluded him, and they arrested him.