Monday, April 25, 2005 | 11:24 a.m.
CARSON CITY, Nev. - A bill that would, for the first time, allocate state money to support problem gambling programs in Nevada received strong support Monday from state casino regulators and those affected by gambling addictions.
"I do not overstate the situation when I say this truly could be a lifesaver and in many other cases a home, job, family and incarceration-saver," said Craig Swope, a recovering compulsive gambler who attends Gamblers Anonymous meetings. "This is a problem that can't be dealt with by a simple decision to stop on one's own."
Swope, the former director of Carson Access Television, pleaded guilty in 2004 to a class B felony for writing himself duplicate payroll checks from January 1999 to June 2003. Through June 2006, he will serve two days a week in jail.
SB357, presented to the Senate Finance Committee, would create the nine-member Advisory Committee on Problem Gambling, which could provide grants to treatment and prevention programs.
The panel would oversee a fund that would get money from slot machine licensing fees. For the coming fiscal year the fund would get $1 per slot machine - or about $822,000 - and the next fiscal year the fund would get $2 per machine - nearly $1.7 million.
Gov. Kenny Guinn has included in his proposed state budget $200,000 over the next two years to support problem gambling programs, and he has hoped for an additional $200,000 in matching gifts, grants and donations.
Valerie Michael, a Las Vegas resident whose husband left her with $250,000 in debt after gambling away their life savings of $1 million, said his problem caused her a decade of anguish and that the addiction can affect family, friends and employers.
"I will spend the rest of my life trying to make up some of the financial loss," said Michael, sister-in-law of Sen. Dennis Nolan, R-Las Vegas. Nolan said he's a sponsor of the bill because of what he saw her go through.
"Why is Nevada, who is really the leader in the world's gaming structure, the last one to do anything or put any real money into gambling addiction?" he asked.
While all states except Utah and Hawaii have some form of legalized gambling, just 17 provide funding for problem gambling programs, according to Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling.
Of the 11 states with commercial casinos, Nevada clubs' winnings are the highest at more than $10 billion a year. But the state is outdistanced by other states in contributions to problem gambling programs.
New Jersey is a distant second to Nevada with $4.49 billion in casino revenues, according to the American Gaming Association's 2003 statistics. But Edward Looney, executive director of the New Jersey Council on Problem Gambling, said the state gives at least $600,000 to problem gambling programs each year through a casino revenue fund.
Galen Schum, executive director of field services for the Office for Addictive Disorders in Louisiana, said the state passed a law in the mid-1990s that requires up to $2 million in industry taxes go to a compulsive gambling fund. Louisiana was fifth in casino gambling revenue in 2003, at $2.02 billion.
In Mississippi, regulators contribute $100,000 a year from penalties levied against casinos, said Betty Greer, executive director of the state's Council on Problem and Compulsive Gambling. In 2003 Mississippi casinos made $2.7 billion, the third most in the nation.
Indiana, which in 2003 had casino gambling revenues of $2.23 billion, the fourth highest in the nation, gets about $200,000 each year from the state for help-line and training programs, said Jan Browdowski, executive administrator of the Indiana Council on Problem Gambling.
Nevada's casino representatives turned out in spades to support the measure, and said they already put a lot of money into prevention and education campaigns against problem gambling.
Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, wondered why the casino industry shouldn't have to put in a matching amount instead of the state putting in money from its general fund.
Bill Bible, president of the Nevada Resort Association, said there is already a large over-collection of gambling taxes here.
In Nevada, 6.4 percent of the adult population has some level of gambling problem. But Dr. Rob Hunter, who runs Problem Gambling Consultants in Las Vegas, said with more treatment options available, people are more likely to seek help before their problems race out of control.
"I think when treatment is more readily available and funded we're going to get those phone calls earlier," he said.
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