Posted on Sun, Dec. 24, 2006
Even with new law, state spends only enough to aid 100 or so among 1 million problem bettors
By John Hill
SACRAMENTO BEE
SACRAMENTO - California is home to a million or more problem gamblers, addicted to wagering or spellbound enough by it that it’s
beginning to interfere with day-to-day life.
In 2007, the state of California will pay for no more than 100 of them to get treatment — and even that represents an increase.
Assembly Bill 1973, which goes into effect Jan. 1, will garner about $150,000 in fees from card rooms to be dedicated to
gambling addiction treatment.
A May report by the California Research Bureau estimated that the cost of treating all of the state’s problem and pathological
gamblers would be $2.8 billion.
The $150,000 represents the proverbial drop in the bucket, officials say — or, in gambling terms, a nickel ante in a $1,000
pot.
“That’s pretty limited,” said Steve Hedrick, director of the state’s Office of Problem Gambling.
But in a state that had previously ponied up no money for gambling treatment, it’s a start, experts say.
Each path to addiction is unique.
For one retired salesman, it began when some friends in New York took him to a horse racing track to cheer him up when he was out
of a job and going through a rough patch.
“I won, unfortunately, really unfortunately, so that I thought I was undefeatable,” said the 70-year-old Sacramento man, who
asked not to be identified because of the stigma of gambling addiction.
His problem spiraled out of control when he moved to California two decades ago and found himself within driving distance of
Nevada’s casinos.
“That’s where the candy store was open 24 hours a day,” he said.
He sought help after one gambling binge, during which he bet on horse races and ran to the blackjack table while he was waiting
for the results to come in.
“This went on for hours and hours,” he said. “I didn’t get anything to eat or drink.”
He suddenly had a moment of clarity: If he didn’t do something to control his addiction, he would die in a casino — and the
authorities would have to notify his two teenage children of the wretched circumstances of his death. He sought help at Gamblers
Anonymous, and hasn’t walked into a casino for 23 years.
In California, such stories have multiplied with the explosive growth of Indian casinos and other legalized forms of gambling.
Until now, the state has responded by focusing on prevention and public awareness rather than treatment.
The Office of Problem Gambling gets $3 million a year from the revenue that flow to the state through 26 gambling compacts with
Indian tribes. The money pays for radio ads in English, Spanish, Mandarin and Cantonese, two help lines, billboards, and studies of the
prevalence of gambling addiction and the effectiveness of treatments.
Overall, the state spends about 9 cents per resident on problem gambling services — close to the average for the United States as a
whole, but far behind leaders such as Oregon, at 89 cents, and Iowa, at 72 cents, according to a 2005 report by the Office of
Problem Gambling.
California may be ahead of other states in prevention and public awareness, Hedrick said. But it lags in what it spends on
treatment.
AB 1973, by former Assemblyman Rudy Bermudez, D-Norwalk, would for the first time dedicate money to treatment by assessing card
clubs anadditional $100 per table. There are fewer than 100 card rooms in California, most of them in Southern California and the Bay Area, the
2005 report by the Office of Problem Gambling said.
The office doesn’t yet know how it will spend the money.
But it is funding research at UCLA into one possibility that would allow the state to get the most out of scarce treatment
dollars.
The method involves intensive counseling in three to five sessions over the telephone. Problem gamblers are taught how the
odds at casinos are stacked against them, the irrationality of believing in luck and how to keep track of gambling losses, Hedrick
said.
The common-sense approach has shown promise with those not yet fully in the grips of the affliction, he said, although it might
not always work for pathological gamblers.
More than 350,000 Californians may fall into that category, according to the California Research Bureau report, which
extrapolated the figure from national studies. A direct study of problem gambling prevalence in California is expected in 2007.
Not only does the state suffer from a dearth of money for treatment of these addicts, there also are only 24 counselors statewide
who specialize in them, said Bruce Roberts, executive director of the California Council on Problem Gambling.
While gambling addicts can seek treatment with counselors who don’t specialize in the problem, Roberts said, “It’s kind of like
saying, if you’ve got diabetes, go to a heart doctor.”
He said therapists don’t seek training in treating gambling addiction because, until now, there hasn’t been any money dedicated
to it.
In the meantime, self-help groups such as Gamblers Anonymous, which don’t draw on government funding, have seen an influx of
addicts seeking help, as well as a changing demographic that includes more young people and women.
Gambling has become far more convenient in the past 20 years, as Indian casinos have sprung up around the state, said the
former salesman who overcame his own gambling addiction.
“It’s like going to the shopping market for people,” he said.
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(c) 2006 ContraCostaTimes.com and wire service sources. http://www.contracostatimes.com
