Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Ore. addiction treatment funding may be reduced

SALEM, Ore. -- Billy Maguire's thirst to play video poker pushed him to write fraudulent checks, steal friends' credit card numbers and squander the bulk of his retirement.

"My gambling addiction in two years brought me to sitting in my apartment on a Sunday evening with a shotgun in my mouth thinking it was a logical solution," said Maguire, 61, a crane technician who moved here from Ireland 22 years ago.

Instead, Maguire disassembled the gun and called the gambling addiction helpline that is posted on the video poker machines in taverns all over the state.

Now in treatment, Maguire hasn't made a bet in over a year.

But because the state is strapped for cash, lawmakers are talking about reducing or even eliminating gambling addiction funding, leaving people like Maguire and thousands of other addicted Oregon gamblers to chance.

Lawmakers are also talking about expanding state-sponsored gambling by bringing video slot machines into taverns and bars that already have video poker machines.

Many legislators estimate the new game could bring in another $80 to $90 million for the state over the next two years.

Jeff Marotta, manager of the Problem Gambling Services branch of Oregon's Department of Human Services, says the video slots will add to the 75,000 Oregonians who have a gambling problem.

"More people will play line games than video poker machines," said Marotta. "All you have to do is look at the floor of a casino and you'll find that 95 percent of the games are slots."

In total, from scratch off tickets to casinos on tribal land, Marotta says Oregonians bet over $1 billion a year. He said 40 percent of the people who come in for gambling treatment have committed crimes to feed their addiction.

Oregon depends on profits from lottery games to pay large chunks of state services like public schools. In the fiscal year ending June 30, the Lottery shuffled $380 million to state coffers, mostly from video poker, said spokesman Tom Towslee.

As it stands, 1 percent of lottery revenues go to gambling prevention and treatment programs. For the past two years, that was $6.4 million -- money that went to 30 outpatient treatment centers, three crisis facilities and 57 full-time gambling counselors and program administrators.

The Joint Ways & Means Committee has proposed eliminating money for gambling addiction treatment. Gov. Ted Kulongoski's proposed budget retains the funding. What the Legislature ultimately decides may be somewhere in between.

Sen. Kurt Schrader, D-Canby, one of the legislative budget co-chairs, says there is enough support in both chambers to restore some, if not all, of the gambling addiction funding.

"If we went to line games we would almost have to," Schrader said.

But even if video slots are allowed, the gambling addiction programs won't get extra money, Shrader said.

The other co-chair, Rep. Randy Miller, R-West Linn, is a proponent of video slots.

He says gambling is already prevalent on Indian casinos in Oregon, most people don't become addicted and that raising revenue from video slots is better than raising taxes.

"If you can get people to contribute money in a voluntary way, why involuntarily extract it?" Miller said.

Maguire, the recovering addict, says that thinking is faulty.

"There seems to be a myth that gambling creates money that comes out of nowhere," said Maguire. "It's not true. The money is people's savings, paychecks and rent money."

The video slots addition would require only a reprogramming of the existing 9,000 video poker terminals in 1,900 bars and taverns around the state.

The Lottery Commission has the authority to implement the new games without seeking approval from the Legislature or the governor. But because the governor appoints the commissioners, any major change implicitly requires a political nod.

"A lot of legislators are counting on increased revenue from the lottery," said Peter Bragdon, Kulongoski's chief of staff. "It's certainly something that is a possibility."

There are, however, strong opponents of line games.

Rep. Jeff Merkeley, D-Portland, and other House Democrats are sending a letter to Kulongoski urging him to resist the video slots temptation.

"It makes no sense to raise money in a fashion that destroys lives and families," Merkeley said.

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