Gaming briefs for Sept. 3, 2003

Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2003 | 11:11 a.m.

Gambling hotline terminated

FORT WORTH, Texas -- The phone number has been on the back of every Texas lottery ticket printed since 1992. It's the number to a hotline for problem gamblers needing a referral to counseling services such as Gamblers Anonymous.

Yet an average of three out of five telephone calls placed to the Texas Council on Problem Gambling in 2002 were from people asking for the winning lottery numbers, according to state officials.

That's a major reason the state's only 24-hour hotline for problem gamblers ran out of money Monday. Its funding, an annual $375,000 check from the Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, will now be earmarked for the state's permanent education fund.

"When we found out that the overwhelming majority of calls going to the hotline were to find out the results of the lottery, that seemed to be an easy decision to make," said state Rep. Arlene Wohlgemuth, R-Burleson, who helped write legislation to allow the termination of the hotline. "I'm sure there are going to be people who do not receive service, but we were trying to define those who needed help the most. And we felt this service was not getting the biggest bang for the buck."

In 2002, 19,557 calls came from adults who wanted information about problem gambling. Of the hotline's 49,606 total calls, 1,620 received crisis counseling or a referral, said Kirk Cole, media relations director for the alcohol and drug abuse commission.

Regulators try barring criminal from casinos

NEWARK -- New Jersey gambling prosecutors have asked the state Casino Control Commission to ban an admitted racketeer from Atlantic City casinos.

Angelo Prisco should be added to the exclusion list because law enforcement experts consider him a "capo," or captain, in the Genovese crime family, the state Division of Gaming Enforcement asserted in its petition.

Prisco was freed from prison by the state Parole Board last August. Federal prosecutors are investigating whether that decision was influenced by the governor's office. Gov. James E. McGreevey has denied his staff intervened.

Prisco, 64, now lives in Smithville. No listing could be found for him, and a lawyer who has represented him in the past did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

State law permits the commission to blacklist people, including career criminals. The exclusion list has 163 names on it, authorities said.

The commission has not yet acted on the petition.