Illinois alone in lack of funding for compulsive gambling

James Webb

Wednesday, April 26, 2000 | 5:06 a.m.

CHICAGO - Illinois is alone among the Midwest's riverboat casino states in not providing state funding for compulsive gambling programs - a fact that is coming into sharp focus as state regulators prepare for a special meeting on the addiction issue.

A plan to provide $2 million for compulsive gambling programs from the state's take of casino taxes failed in the waning days of the Illinois Legislature's spring session earlier this month. Illinois Gaming Board officials pointed out their disappointment Tuesday, prompting Gov. George Ryan and Republicans in the state Senate to blame each other for the failure.

"I did support it and I'm going to find the money to fund it," Ryan said Wednesday.

Ryan spokesman Dennis Culloton said the governor's aides are looking for a way to get a program going in the Department of Human Services with available money, then seek a supplemental appropriation from lawmakers in the fall.

Patty Schuh, spokeswoman for Senate President James "Pate" Philip, R-Wood Dale, said Ryan ought to be able to find the money from current state funds or the new budget without specifying new money next fall. She said some Senate Republicans are satisfied that the state's floating casinos voluntarily fund a compulsive gambling help line and "aren't thrilled" at the idea of spending state money.

Years ago the state Legislature passed a law to establish a help-line program in the Department of Alcohol and Substance Abuse but never funded it. Lawmakers also gave the Gaming Board $400,000 to study how much help was available for problem gamblers in the state and to fund some training for professional counselors. But the state has not come up with a continuing program.

In neighboring Indiana, Iowa and Missouri, however, legislation legalizing floating casinos also provided funding to help people who developed gambling problems. Those programs have not been without their own problems. Here are examples:

- Indiana directs a small portion of its $3 riverboat admission tax to fund compulsive gambling programs in the state mental health department, including a gambler help-line. Since gambling began in December 1995, more than $2.6 million has been earmarked for compulsive gambling, according to Jennifer Arnold, spokeswoman for the Indiana Gaming Commission.

- A small percentage of Iowa's taxes on riverboats and racing tracks with slot machines is designated for compulsive gambling programs in the state public health department, providing about $3 million in the last fiscal year. But state lawmakers dipped into that fund last year to fund other programs and are poised to take about half a million dollars out again this year, said Jack Ketterer, administrator for the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission.

- In Missouri, a state fund will cover the cost of compulsive gambling counseling for any resident, but the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has reported that most of the more than $600,000 available has gone unspent because of a lack of publicity for the program. The money comes from voluntary contributions by local governments that host casinos. Lawmakers are considering whether to raise new money from gambling taxes to publicize the program.