Any new gambling legislation in Ky should also help gambling’s victims
Lost amid the debate whether historical horse racing (HHR) is legal, can be preserved with a legislative remedy, or is morally unacceptable in Kentucky is that the Commonwealth is the home of at least 9,000 addicted gamblers. Based on the latest survey data, there are an additional 51,000 problem gamblers who exhibit at least one symptom of addicted gambling, and 190,000 Kentuckians who are at risk of developing a gambling addiction.
The Kentucky Council on Problem Gambling (KYCPG) does not take a position for or against gambling. KYCPG’s mission focuses on raising awareness and directing gamblers to the help they need. Practically, gambling exists and there are fellow Kentuckians struggling with problem and addicted gambling. Promoting or opposing gambling would dilute its mission, but KYCPG does monitor the impact of gambling on society. It assesses the impact proposed legislation can have on gambling activity and the need for services for problem and addicted gamblers and their families, friends and co-workers.
The mid-point of academically developed estimates of what addicted gambling costs is $9,000 per addicted gambler annually from crime, bankruptcy, domestic abuse, social services, lost productivity and suicide. Using only the 9,000 addicted gamblers identified in the survey, addicted gambling costs the state $81 million annually.
Kentuckians do gamble. Results from the survey firm IPSOS in 2018 showed 78 percent of adults gambled in the past year. The Kentucky Incentives for Prevention survey of public school students showed 26.6 percent of high school seniors gambled in their lifetimes, and 1.9 percent of students surveyed in sixth, eighth, 10th and 12th grades reported gambling caused a financial or personal problem, which is a symptom of addicted gambling.
The IPSOS survey reported almost three-quarters agreed a gambling addiction is a lot like drug or alcohol addiction, and more than half agreed a portion of gambling revenue should be dedicated to public problem and addicted gambling services. In spite of receiving more than $250 million annually in transfer payments, taxes and fees on legal gambling, the Commonwealth of Kentucky does not provide publicly funded problem and addicted gambling services. Thirty-nine other states with legal gambling use a portion of their gambling revenue for such services.
To provide a meaningful and accountable program would cost the state less than one-half of one percent of the legal gambling receipts the state receives.
In the current Kentucky General Assembly session, Rep. Adam Koenig introduced House Bill 241, which would expand gambling by legalizing sports betting in the state. His bill includes a section authorizing the creation and funding of a problem and addicted gambling education and treatment program. The money would come from expanded gambling revenue, and it would be administered through the existing Department of Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities (DBHDID). It is a responsible provision to address an identifiable need regardless if one supports the legislation.
Neither Senate Bill 120, which would change the definition of pari-mutuel wagering to allow HHR to continue in the state, nor House bill 156, which would increase the tax the state receives from HHR and advanced deposit wagering (ADW) placed on horse racing electronic betting platforms, contain any reference to problem or addicted gambling that can be fueled by participation in these forms of gambling. KYCPG urges the Kentucky General Assembly to include language to establish a problem and addicted gambling education and treatment program in any gambling expansion or preservation legislation. It is the responsible thing to do.
Michael R. Stone is the executive director of the Kentucky Council on Problem Gambling.