Illinois regulators say compulsive gambling funding denied

James Webb

Wednesday, April 26, 2000 | 2:25 a.m.

CHICAGO - Illinois casino regulators will hold their first-ever hearing on problem gambling next week, but just learned that they won't have a dime to spend on the issue in the next fiscal year.

The Illinois Gaming Board's request for $2 million to research and treat compulsive gambling was axed in the final days of the state Legislature's spring session, Chairman Gregory C. Jones announced at the board's meeting Tuesday.

Despite the disappointment, "we will continue to work with (the Department of) Human Services in order to better understand this problem and to pursue funding in the future," Jones said.

The industry's most vocal critic was more direct, calling it "absolutely criminal" for the state to take gamblers' money without offering any funding for treatment.

"It showed me that this legislature is absolutely in denial as to the pain that they've created by bringing gambling in," said Tom Grey, head of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling. "They're pushing a product that's addictive."

Grey noted that other states with legalized gambling designate funds to deal with problem gambling while Illinois hasn't.

The Legislature approved a record budget of at least $48 billion on April 15, but regulators said they just recently learned their $2 million was cut.

The funding was dropped during budget negotiations after lawmakers rejected language that would have let the board take the money from the state's gaming fund and turn it over as a grant to the Human Services Department to fund research, treatment and prevention of compulsive gambling, according to Ryan's budget director, Stephen Schnorf.

Neither Schnorf nor Ryan spokesman Dennis Culloton could explain what problems lawmakers had with the plan, which Ryan proposed in his budget.

"The governor supported funds for compulsive gambling treatment, continues to support it and will introduce funding in the future," Culloton said.

Legislative budget experts could not immediately be reached for comment.

Casino revenues, along with state and local gambling taxes, have skyrocketed since the legislature last year allowed the state's nine riverboat casinos to drop anchor and provide continuous boarding. March revenue of more than $147 million was the highest in state history, far exceeding regulators' predictions.

"No one knows where this is going or when it will level off," Thomas Swoik, deputy administrator for finance, told the board at Tuesday's meeting.

But with the huge increase in gambling numbers has come a growing concern among regulators about possible side-effects. That concern led to the scheduled May 3 hearing in Chicago, featuring casino officials, treatment experts and gambling foes.