Rena Nora, MD
Rena Nora, MD (1940–2008), is the Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Nevada School of Medicine in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Robert Custer, MD
Dr. Robert Custer (1927–1990)’s contributions to the field of addiction, specifically pathological gambling, have been unparalleled.
Dr. Robert Hunter
Dr. Robert Hunter (1955–2018) was a Las Vegas clinical psychologist known as the world’s leading gambling addiction specialist. In 1986 he co-designed Nevada’s first treatment program for pathological gamblers at Charter Hospital, and in 1998 he founded the Problem Gambling Center — the first nonprofit gambling addiction center in Las Vegas, now named in his honor. He treated more problem gamblers than anyone in the world, and the counseling model he built is the treatment that gambling diversion courts rely on to give defendants a path to recovery.
Honorable Mark Farrell (Ret)
Judge Mark Farrell (1947–2019) ran the first gambling treatment diversion court in the United States — a pilot program in Amherst, New York, from 2001 until his retirement in 2013. His work inspired Judge Cheryl Moss to establish Nevada’s court in 2018.
Honorable Cheryl B. Moss (Ret)
Judge Cheryl Moss founded the Gambling Treatment Diversion Court in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2018.
Justice Linda Bell
Judge Linda Bell, chief judge of the Eighth Judicial District Court in 2021 succeeded Judge Cheryl Moss as the presiding judge of the GTDC in February, 2021. She now serves on the Nevada Supreme Court, which she joined on January 2, 2023.
Judge Maria Gall
Judge Maria Gall is the third judge to preside over Nevada’s Gambling Treatment Diversion Court, succeeding Chief Judge Linda Bell. Appointed to the Eighth Judicial District Court, Department 9, by Governor Steve Sisolak in June 2022, she now presides over the GTDC’s bi-weekly sessions in Courtroom 16A. She also serves on the court’s business court and medical malpractice dockets and teaches pretrial litigation as an adjunct professor at the UNLV Boyd School of Law.
Judge Bita Yeager
Judge Bita Yeager succeeded Judge Maria Gall as presiding judge of Nevada’s Gambling Treatment Diversion Court. Elected to Department 1 in 2020, she previously spent nearly 19 years as a Clark County public defender. As the court’s first specialty court hearing master, she created the Co-Occurring Disorders Treatment Court, and she oversees the Mental Health Court, Civil Commitment Court, and Assisted Outpatient Treatment Court.
Judge Brendan J. Sheehan
Judge Brendan J. Sheehan of the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas led Ohio to become the second state in the nation with a Gambling Treatment Diversion Court, implementing the program in Cuyahoga County. Elected to the bench in 2008, he served as the court’s Administrative and Presiding Judge from 2020 to 2025. He earned his law degree from the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and a master’s in judicial studies from the University of Nevada, Reno.
Professor Bill Eadington
Professor Bill Eadington is a world-renowned authority on the subject of gambling and society. He has received national and international recognition for his work on the economic impact of casinos and the effect they have on the jurisdictions in which they are located.
Arnie and Sheila Wexler
Arnie and Sheila Wexler are two of the most passionate and dedicated experts in the field of gambling addiction. For over 35 years they have contributed significantly to improving the lives of recovering persons.
Dr. Rory C. Reid
Dr. Rory C. Reid is the Director of the Gambling Treatment Program at UCLA’s Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and the coordinator of research for the Gambling Studies Program.
