State announces problem gambling initiative

Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2000 | 9:29 a.m.

The Indiana Division of Mental Health said Tuesday it will spend nearly $1.4 million over the next two years to implement the program. From the scant details provided, it will be heavy on message.

"Gambling can be a form of entertainment - it is a form of entertainment for most people," said division Director Janet Corson. "That is what it should be. It shouldn't be a whole way of life."

The division will give the Governor's Commission for a Drug-Free Indiana $875,000 over the next two years to implement the program with input from its local affiliates. Another $500,000 will be paid to a national consulting firm to help coordinate the effort.

Six people - one for each of the commission's six regional offices in Indiana - will be hired and will focus their efforts entirely on education programs and other initiatives designed to prevent or curb problem gambling.

The overall effort will include public service announcements, which have yet to be produced, and information schools can pass on to students about the pitfalls of irresponsible gambling.

The Indiana Gambling Impact Study Commission, a panel created by Gov. Frank O'Bannon, recently finished a two-year study of legalized and illegal gambling in the state.

According to its recent report, $1.8 billion was spent on legalized gambling in Indiana in 1998. That amounts to nearly $200 per adult resident in the state, and it is more than double the $800 million spent in 1996.

Of the $1.8 billion, about $855 million was spent by Hoosiers. The rest came from out-of-state residents, mainly those from the Chicago and Cincinnati areas. Indiana has riverboat casinos that tap into those markets.

According to a 1998 telephone survey and study by Louisiana State University, which was funded by Indiana, about 5.3 percent of nearly 3,000 Indiana respondents indicated a problem with gambling. They reported spending 40 or more hours a month wagering.

Nearly 1 percent of the respondents showed signs of being pathological gamblers, having spent 104 or more hours a month gambling.

"When you're talking about pathological gamblers, you're really talking about somebody whose gambling has become the centerpiece of their life, and it really disrupts a lot of their normal functions," Corson said.

The state has a toll-free telephone number that people can call to get information about gambling addiction services, but its operators also handle calls for other addictions.

Under the new program, a referral line dedicated solely to referral services for gamblers will be set up.

Attorney General Jeff Modisett, who was chairman of the Indiana Gambling Impact Study Commission, said the regional offices with the governor's Drug-Free Commission will work with local communities in establishing the new program.