When the NFL season begins this week, Kentucky residents and visitors will be able to legally place sports bets on anything other than horse racing for the first time. If it does, some of that money will also fund the first government program for people with gambling problems.
Since the US Supreme Court cleared the way for legalizing sports betting five years ago, nearly three-quarters of states have been quick to do so. State funding for problem gambling services hasn’t kept pace, although more states — like Kentucky — are requiring at least a portion of sports betting revenue to be used to support addicted gamblers.
“Funds are starting to flow in, but the amount is still clearly insufficient in most states,” said Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling. He added, “Most of these amounts are token amounts.”
Legitimate sportsbooks have generated $220 billion in revenue and $3 billion in state and local taxes over the past five years.
In contrast, states spent an average of 38 cents per capita on problem gambling services in fiscal 2022, ranging from zero in nine states to $10.6 million in Massachusetts, according to Portland, Oregon-based consulting firm Problem Gambling Solutions Inc. This money, derived from all forms of gambling, went to services such as telephone helplines, counseling and educational campaigns.
The federal government, which spends billions of dollars on preventing and treating substance abuse, provides nothing for gambling problems.
Advocates in Kentucky, which has a rich horse racing history, had tried for decades to persuade lawmakers to fund services for people with gambling problems. There was no guarantee that they would finally succeed when sports betting was suggested.
In fact, Republican Rep. Michael Meredith originally did not provide funding for problem gambling in his Sports Betting Legislation. Meredith told The Associated Press he would have preferred to introduce sports betting first and then come back in the years that followed with legislation providing for the funding of problem gambling from all types of betting, including horse racing.
But Meredith failed to garner enough support this year to pass the law, until a provision was added providing 2.5% of sports betting taxes and royalties on a new problem gambling account that can also be tapped into alcohol and drug addiction.
“We had people who wanted to vote for sports betting,” Meredith said. “But they were really reluctant to play money with no problems.”
Kentucky’s new fund is expected to raise about $575,000 in its first year.
That’s a good start, but “we currently only have five certified gaming consultants in the state, and we will likely need five times that number to ensure adequate geographic and demographic coverage,” said Michael R. Stone, executive director of the nonprofit Kentucky Council on problem gambling.
A year ago, 15 states and the District of Columbia had laws that allowed a portion of their sports betting revenue to go to problem gambling services, but another 15 states didn’t. Since then, seven other states have either introduced or enacted sports betting laws, and all have required that a portion of their sports betting revenue go towards problem gambling services, said Rachel Volberg, a research professor in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of Massachusetts-Amhurst.
Ohio, which introduced sports betting on Jan. 1, requires 2% of tax revenue to go to a “problem sports gaming fund.” State law also requires all sports betting advertisements to include a phone number for a gambling hotline. In the first seven months, calls to the Ohio helpline increased approximately 150% compared to the same period last year.
The surge appears to be due to a surge in sports betting marketing, although some callers had problems with other types of gambling or weren’t really seeking help, said Derek Longmeier, executive director of the Problem Gambling Network of Ohio.
Research shows that younger, more educated men are the most likely to bet on sports. Technology has upped the ante for those with compulsive habits. In many states, people can now bet 24/7 from anywhere with the tap of a smartphone app and bet not only on the winners of the games, but also on a seemingly limitless array of events taking place during the games.
From a problem gambling perspective, “I think it’s more dangerous because it’s easier to access,” said Linda Graves, the recently retired executive director of the National Association of Administrators for Disordered Gambling Services.
Last month, state attorneys general from several states gathered at a Connecticut casino for seminars focused on sports betting and online gambling. Widespread legalization of sports betting has “contributed to a public health problem” that was “already seeping beneath the surface,” gambling issues adviser Brianne Doura-Schawohl told the group.
Still, some governments have cut funding for problem gambling services in recent years.
In May, the District of Columbia Council canceled the $200,000 annual allocation to the Department of Behavioral Health for the prevention, treatment and research of gambling additives. Although the funding is mandated by a 2019 law authorizing sports betting, the department appeared not to have used the money. The department said support services for problem gamblers are also available in other ways.
In Mississippi, a long-standing $100,000 annual grant to a gaming organization was canceled in 2017 as part of further budget cuts. The next year, Mississippi introduced sports betting in casinos and sanctioned a state lottery. Yet lawmakers continued to provide nothing for problem gambling until July 2024, when they introduced $75,000 into the budget.
To stay afloat without government help, the nonprofit Mississippi Council on Problem and Compulsive Gambling relied largely on donations from casinos. She exhausted reserves, cut the salaries of her two employees in half, relocated to a smaller office, stopped traveling to conferences and discontinued a program that offered several weeks of free counseling to people trying to overcome their gambling problems, the executive said Betty Greer.
Kansas has also historically had little funding for problem gambling. Although 2% of state casino revenues go to an addiction fund, only a fraction of that actually goes to problem gambling. Last year, less than $60,000 was allocated to problem gambling services, while more than $7 million went to Medicaid mental health spending, substance abuse grants and other programs.
But that is changing. Kansas’ current budget earmarks more than $1 million for problem gambling efforts in response to sports betting. The state plans to study the prevalence of sports betting addiction and then use the results to develop a nationwide public awareness campaign.
___
Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri. Associated Press reporter Susan Haigh wrote from Mashantucket, Connecticut.
Comments are closed.