Services
Stephen Block works with defense attorneys, prosecutors, courts and treatment programs. Each engagement starts with an assessment of the person and of the part gambling played in the case.
Assessment and evaluation
Assessment and evaluation of problem, pathological and disordered gambling, including people on probation and parole.
Forensic reports
Written forensic reports on a person's gambling problem for counsel and the court.
Expert testimony
Testimony as an expert witness in gambling-related cases in State and Federal Courts.
Legal consultation and mitigation
Consultation for attorneys, including mitigation in cases where gambling played a part.
Treatment referral
Referral to treatment for problem gambling.
Program development, presentations and training
Program development, presentations and training on problem gambling.
An early federal case
One of his first federal cases came around 2003. A limousine driver had stolen government checks from mailboxes to pay his gambling debts. After Block's report, District Judge Jack Weinstein in New York cut the sentence from 44 to 22 months and ruled that Block could be considered an expert witness on gambling. He has since worked on 300 to 400 cases.
For the most part, the judges are not educated in addiction either.
Stephen Block, Vixio GamblingCompliance, 2023