Committee studies innovative gambling treatment program

John K. Wiley

Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2000 | 10:53 a.m.

SPOKANE - A state Senate committee studying gambling addiction on Tuesday looked at an innovative treatment program paid for, in part, by contributions from minicasinos.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Trade, Housing and Financial Institutions - through which all gambling legislation must pass - is conducting hearings on programs available for people addicted to gambling.

Representatives of the state's gaming industry and gambling regulators said there is not much funding available for treatment. Many health insurance programs exclude coverage for treatment of compulsive gambling, they said.

"It's obviously a serious problem and we're finally attempting to come to grips with it," said committee Chairwoman Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Seattle.

Chronic gamblers can include people who spend money in smoky cardrooms, in lottery lines, and those who ply the Internet as day traders, said Connie Jones, director of responsible gaming for Anchor Gaming, a Las Vegas company that provides lottery systems in a number of states.

Many problem gamblers have nowhere to turn for treatment, Gary Hanson, executive director of the Washington State Council on Problem Gambling, told the committee.

Because many have mortgaged their homes and overtaxed their credit to pay gambling debts, they can't afford treatment, he said.

One innovative program involves Spokane's Deaconess Medical Center, which created an outpatient treatment program that is partially funded by contributions from several Spokane-area minicasinos.

Since its start in August 1999, the program has served more than 100 problem gamblers and their families, program director Mike Forness said. The program is available, initially free, to every Spokane County resident and talks are under way with several Indian tribes to possibly expand its scope, Forness said.

Hanson asked the committee to consider spending $250,000 over the next two years to study links between chemically dependent people and problem gamblers.

Instead of building new inpatient treatment centers, the pilot project would train drug and alcohol treatment specialists in how to recognize and treat problem gambling, he said.

Since the Legislature relaxed rules in 1997 for so-called "house banked" gaming, 63 minicasinos have been approved and eight have closed, Washington State Gambling Commission spokeswoman Amy Patjens told the committee.

The Gambling Commission approves one or two new minicasino applications each month and 16 applications are pending, but the anticipated "huge influx" of enhanced cardrooms hasn't happened, she said.

Operators of Spokane-area minicasinos asked Prentice's committee for exemptions to minimum wage regulations for employees who receive a portion of their income in tips.

But Prentice said the Legislature "is in no mood" to expand gambling.

In February, the House passed a bill that would allow cities, towns and counties to use their zoning powers to control the spread of nontribal minicasinos.

The committee also heard a progress report on the Kalispel Indian Tribe's new Northern Quest Casino being built at Airway Heights, near Spokane.

Tribal council member Curt Holmes said the $20 million casino is expected to open in late December. The tribe plans to use casino revenues on a number of social programs, he said.