Casino regulators get earful on gambling problems

James Webb

Thursday, May 4, 2000 | 2:25 a.m.

CHICAGO - Casino regulators will consider ways to restrict gamblers' access to money at riverboats as part of a broader attempt to address compulsive gambling that could be in place by late summer, the chairman of the Illinois Gaming Board said Wednesday.

Other efforts may include a public awareness campaign and a voluntary policy under which gamblers could go to a state agency to have themselves banned from all of the state's floating casinos, Chairman Gregory C. Jones said following the board's first-ever hearing on compulsive gambling. Any such efforts would be a marked departure for the state, which has done little to address the issue since legalizing riverboat gambling in 1990.

"I don't think there's any disagreement there is a percentage" of gamblers who are harmed, Jones said. "And I think the casinos recognize that, I think everyone does."

Gov. George Ryan took advantage of the hearing to announce that he is directing the Department of Human Services to spend $1 million from its budget for the fiscal year starting in July on compulsive gambling issues, which could fund such efforts. Ryan had pledged to act after word that the state Legislature failed to approve his request for $2 million for such programs.

Anti-gambling activists and addiction counselors told the board during the daylong hearing that state government helped create the problem with an explosion in legalized gambling, which includes the state lottery and horse racing.

But officials from the casino gambling industry attacked claims that expansion of gambling in the country - including Illinois' elimination of riverboat cruising requirements - has created more people with pathological gambling problems. And experts funded by the casino industry and casino officials called for more scientific research on the nature of gambling disorders.

"Make your decision based on facts, not anecdotes," said Frank Fahrenkopf, president of the American Gaming Association, the national casino lobbying organization.

Jones said the actions he outlined may be taken now, while studies into the problem continue.

He said the board will consider whether regulators or the legislature could restrict the locations of ATMs and credit card cash advance machines, and will examine the credit policies of the riverboats. Ryan has called for ATMs to be removed from riverboats.

Susan Gouinlock, vice president of the Illinois Casino Gaming Association, pointed out that Illinois' riverboat casino operators already voluntarily fund a helpline for problem gamblers and have adopted procedures for banning compulsive gamblers who request it. The association supports the use of current state taxes on casino gambling to fund compulsive gambling programs, she said.

The Illinois association also announced that it wants to create an alliance of state agencies, the Gaming Board, Illinois Lottery officials, the horse racing industry, casino operators and treatment experts to build awareness about problem gambling and consult on treatment and prevention efforts. The association would be patterned after a similar alliance created in Missouri.

Tom Grey, a Rockford minister who is head of the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, told the board they should recommend gambling restrictions to the legislature to adopt. And he predicted that casino lobbyists would attempt to block their efforts.

"If you minimize pain, you will cut ... profits," Grey said. "So the battle line is drawn."