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Chicago Tribune
28-04-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Column: Rise of gambling has given way to gaming addictions
Apparently, there's a cost to turning Illinois into a giant gaming casino, but it isn't high enough to turn back the clock on the thousands of gambling dens currently in operation. The latest example is what the Lake County Board did the other day. The county's legislative body approved doubling down on gambling addiction and allocated $800,000 in video gaming revenue to area social services agencies. When legalized gambling first surfaced in the Prairie State, opponents warned of the consequences, like gamblers spinning through money they don't have, ending up in debt and decimating their families. Their predictions of gambling disorders have come true in spades. The ease of gambling — one can place bets online and from cellphones, pick up a Lotto ticket at a mini-mart, take a chance at a bar or restaurant with video games, or visit one of the casinos located geographically across the state — is what makes it a devastating addiction. According to Joseph States' recent News-Sun account, County Board members remarked on the negative impact gambling addiction has had on their constituents. Of course, millions of Illinoisans bet responsibly. They know their limits. For others, they need to overcome their addictions. A study a few years ago by the Illinois Department of Human Services found that 68% of adult Illinoisans reported they gamble, with the Illinois lottery being the most popular outlet. It also found that 3.8% of Illinoisans — about 383,000 people — are considered to have a gambling problem. An additional 7.7% — approximately 761,000 — are at risk for developing a gambling problem. Another study calculates that about 1% to 3% of U.S. adults are gambling addicts. County Board member Linda Pedersen of Antioch said allocating money to social-service agencies only makes sense, States reported. 'Why would you take the money from gambling and spend on everything else, and not help the people that you know are going to have problems?' she said. While it's a noble move to spend gaming earnings on gaming addictions, officials can expect to dole out their winnings in perpetuity to battle its pull. Especially since Illinois and local governments get a nice boost from gambling without actually taxing residents. State and local governments earned more than $1.7 billion in tax revenue last year from the state's 16 licensed casinos, approximately 8,700 video gaming terminals and 14 sportsbooks, according to Illinois Gaming Board data. The breakdown was $1.4 billion to the state, and $269.9 million to local governments. In March, The Temporary casino in Waukegan's Fountain Square entertainment zone earned nearly $10.9 million in adjusted gross receipts, the Gaming Board reported this month. Of that, $1.2 million went to the state, and $620,619 to local governments. The Temporary is the state's seventh-highest-grossing casino. Rivers, off the Tri-State Tollway in Des Plaines, is the highest. It is followed by newly opened Wind Creek in South Suburban East Hazelcrest; Hard Rock Casino-Rockford, also newly opened; Grand Victoria in Elgin, one of the state's original 'riverboat' casinos; Harrah's Joliet; and Bally's Chicago. Riverboat casinos began operating in Illinois in 1991, with expansion following. Video gaming was approved in 2009, and sports betting in 2019. The U.S. gaming industry made a record $71.9 billion in revenue last year, with gamblers, who should know odds always favor the house, losing more than $100 billion. A rise in gambling addictions has resulted. Indeed, the Mayo Clinic based in Rochester, Minnesota, notes, 'Gambling can stimulate the brain's reward system much like drugs such as alcohol can, leading to addiction.' In one study, Illinois is ranked as the 14th-most gambling-addicted state. Nevada is number one. Even those who rule the state's gaming venues admit we have a gambling problem. 'Problem gambling awareness and responsible gambling education demand our attention, effort, and action,' Illinois Gaming Board Administrator Marcus Fruchter said in a statement last month, marking Problem Gambling Awareness Month. The IDHS spends more than $10 million annually on gambling-addiction treatment services. The state operates a voluntary self-exclusion program for problem gamblers, which allows them to voluntarily ban themselves from the state's casinos and sportsbooks. As of March, some 15,613 people had placed themselves on the exclusion list, according to the Gaming Board. Elizabeth Thielen, senior director of substance abuse treatment services at Waukegan-based Nicasa, whose counselors have been treating county addicts since 1966, said it is estimated that every $1 of gambling revenue results in $3 of social costs due to increases in crime and social-service spending. That's a heavy loss for what are advertised as fun games of chance. If you believe someone has a gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER (800-426-2537).
Chicago Tribune
09-04-2025
- Health
- Chicago Tribune
Lake County allocates $800K to combat gambling addiction; ‘It only makes sense'
Lake County allocated $800,000 in video gaming revenue to various gambling addiction social services throughout the county during Tuesday's County Board meeting, money that one organization leader said will help combat a growing crisis. Board members spoke in favor of the annual funding, but some lamented the fact that such services were a need in the community, sharing the negative impacts of gambling addiction they've seen. According to a county spokesperson, the Illinois Video Gaming Act establishes a 30% tax on gross terminal revenue, of which 1/6 is distributed to the municipality where the revenue was generated. The flat $800,000 was set to allow 'for certainty in the annual budgeting process, and allows the county to deliver funds more quickly to community-based organizations,' the spokesperson said. District 1 County Board member Linda Pedersen, who sat on the committee that originally pushed for providing the funds to gambling addiction services from gambling revenue about eight years ago, said that while she has been opposed to the state expanding gambling, she felt it was important to take the money and give it to organizations that will help treat gambling disorders. 'It only makes sense to me,' Pedersen said. 'Why would you take the money from gambling and spend on everything else, and not help the people that you know are going to have problems?' One such organization is Nicasa, which has partnered with the county since 2017 to provide gambling addiction services with the funds. Elizabeth Thielen is senior director of substance abuse treatment services at Nicasa and oversees its gambling addiction services. She said Nicasa has had a gambling addiction program since 2002, when Illinois expanded its gambling options, but the funds have allowed the organization to expand its services and provide more resources to those with gambling disorders. 'Everyone knows about alcohol and drug addiction, but almost nobody has even heard of gambling addiction,' she said. 'And, if they have, they often have a lot of misconceptions about it.' The first wide-scale study on gambling disorders was conducted in 2020 in Illinois, Thielen said. It found that 3.8% of Illinois adults have a full-blown gambling disorder, while another 7.6% are at-risk gamblers. Those numbers don't count incarcerated individuals, who have the highest rates of gambling disorders, or people under 17, which she said means those numbers are severely undercounting the reality. The financial impact of gambling can be devastating, she said. Nicasa has seen people burning through the equivalent of their annual salaries in weeks, or even days. Gambling disorders are harder to spot than drug or alcohol use, and those with gambling disorders have high suicide rates, even higher than any addictive disorder, according to Thielen. 'This is something people don't know about or talk about,' she said. 'There is so much shame and stigma. The person affected feels alone and confused. Making sure people know that this is actually a legitimate disorder, brought on by a complicated set of external and internal factors and there is help available, could be the difference between life and death.' She praised Lake County for taking revenue generated from gambling and using it to help mitigate any related harm. 'Individual municipalities that benefit from gambling revenue would be wise to consider mitigating any potential harm to their communities by allocating a portion of the revenue for prevention and treatment,' Thielen said. She pointed to an estimate that every $1 of gambling revenue results in $3 of social costs, an estimate originally made by Baylor University economist Earl Grinols regarding casinos and the resulting increases in crime, social welfare spending and other problems. 'The only way to maximize the potential benefits of gambling in a community is to minimize problem gambling,' Thielen said. Thielen said parents, teachers and even counselors aren't aware of the risks young people are facing in sports betting. Youths and young adults have a rate of disordered gambling two to three times that of adults. She likened the risks to that of underage drinking or drug use.. 'We've gotten calls from parents of young people who get caught up in sports betting to the point they are emptying college funds, bank accounts and even stealing from family members,' she said. 'Parents have the mistaken impression that gambling isn't a substance, so it's not risky.' The rise of online and sports gambling has shifted the demographics of gambling disorders, Thielen said. 'When I first started working in the gambling treatment space, most of our clients were in their 40s, 50s and older. Now we're getting 16-year-olds, 20-year-olds, 25-year-olds,' she said. 'It's really our young adult males that are, more than anybody else, caught up in sports betting online.' And for those recovering, the modern world is filled with daily triggers, from advertisements at the gas pump for lottery tickets, to notifications on cell phones, she said. Phones, in general, pose a new and possibly heightened risk as well. 'Bars close,' Thielen said. 'Gambling online is available 24/7. Anywhere you have your phone or another connected device … you could be driving, at your kid's softball game, you could be at church.'
