WITH more than 20 years' experience dealing with gambling problems in eight different countries, Dr Rachel Volberg has a pretty good idea or what works, and what doesn't.

Setting up services to prevent and treat such addiction before casinos open their doors here in 2009 is a great way to keep the problem contained, she said on Tuesday.

Otherwise, Singapore could end up like the American state of Nevada, where 6 per cent of the adult population is addicted to gambling.

'Their families are badly affected too. Many spouses have stress related health problems like high blood pressure and diabetes. Their kids have a high rate of depression and delinquency, they do poorly in school and many are themselves addicted to drugs, alcohol and gambling.'

Dr Volberg is the first of eight foreign experts Singapore has retained for two years to help tackle the problem before it looms large, to arrive here for a three day meeting to help chart the course Singapore should take.

Four of the experts were picked by the Health Ministry and the other four by the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG).

They form the International Advisory Panel that is jointly chaired by Professor David Chan of the Singapore Management University and Professor Goh Chee Leok of the National Skin Centre.

The experts from the US, Australia, Canada, Britain, New Zealand and Hongkong, who meet for the first time in Singapore on Wednesday, bring with them a wealth of experience in tackling gambling addiction.

Their task: to advise the government on steps it can take to prevent addictions, primarily in gambling, drugs and alcohol.

Failing that, what it can to to control such addictions. They will also highlight areas of research which may be useful in this fight.

Their conclusions will be submitted to the Ministry of Health and the NCPG by the end of this month.

Prof Chan, who lectures on psychology, said the panel - which embodies a range of disciplines from psychiatry, sociology, psychology to clinical practice and research - will not have to worry about whether there will be money to carry out their suggestions.

'The money is there. We can always ask for additional resources if needed. I don't see a budget constraint,' he said.

But Prof Goh, who is probably best known as the man who took over the helm of the National Kidney Foundation and steered the scandal-wracked charity back on course, hopes to identify cost effective measures.

If the panel's advice is that prevention is the most cost effective way of dealing with the problem, then the government will go into this 'agressively'.

'We may bring the message to schools, and even to kindergartens,' he said.

Prof Goh wants to tap their expertise on setting up the National Addiction Management Centre, to be built at the Institute for Mental Health.

He said: 'We want them to advice us on the size, staffing and operational cost of running such a centre. And whether it?s going to end up as a white elephant.'

He added: 'We don't know what the magnitude of the problem will be. But we have to make provisions.'