Last updated: February 22, 2024
Kentucky’s recent foray into legalized sports gambling brings forth a surge in problem gambling helpline calls, with concerns amplified by a shortage of treatment options. The delay in allocated funding until 2024 poses challenges, emphasizing the urgency for timely interventions in addressing gambling addiction amidst the state’s evolving regulatory landscape.
On September 7 (retail) and September 28 (online), Kentucky legalized and, more significantly, launched sports gambling, enabling residents to finally place a bet without having to travel across state lines or, worse, look into illegal options.
Despite all the positive effects of regulation, there have been some causes for concern, mainly related to the volume of calls made to problem gambling hotlines.
June Leffler of KET’s Kentucky Edition reports that the number of these communications has increased threefold. Leffler verified the figures by speaking with several state-affiliated counsellors who address problem gambling. One Lionel Phelps, who works with River Valley Behavioral Health in Owensboro, is one of the interviewees.
Worse, though, seems to be the lack of treatment options rather than the rise in calls. 4.5 million people live in Kentucky, yet there are only seven licensed gambling counsellors in the state. If this is allowed to continue, it will lead to many problems. Counsellors raise the alarm for several reasons.
Due to the lack of funding, early interventions and treatment would be more challenging to provide with the $1.2 million that was supposed to be coming in to address problem gambling locked away until 2024.
Leffler has also interviewed Ronsolyn Clark of Boulware Mission, who clarifies that akin to an addiction to drugs or alcohol, gambling addiction is a disorder that disrupts the release of dopamine in the brain, frequently leading to individuals engaging in reckless spending to achieve the release of dopamine.
Approximately 1% of people in the United States are classified as having a gambling disorder, which is a severe kind of addiction. At the very least, this amounts to three million people. Nonetheless, an additional 2-3% struggle with a gambling problem, indicating a problem with controlling their habits.
On the scale that they have witnessed in recent years, regulated gambling is relatively new in the United States. Help for problem gamblers has always been a component of new initiatives to control gambling in general in the US. Ohio has been leading the way in helping its most vulnerable consumers, launching a statewide self-exclusion program in the process.
But there have been regressions in other places. Washington, D.C. has decided to cut back on funding for the care of vulnerable people.
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