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Category Archives: Gambling

Personal Frontiers gets $45K to treat gambling addiction – Gillette News Record

Posted: February 11, 2024 at 3:50 am

Right now, if a Campbell County resident is struggling with gambling addiction, there are very few, if any, places they can turn to for help.

Personal Frontiers, a nonprofit substance abuse treatment provider, plans to change that. This week, the organization received $45,000 from the county, which was passed down from the state, to start a program to treat gambling addiction.

In 2023, Campbell County received $45,553 in sports betting revenue from the state, which specified that the money be used for prevention and treatment of problematic gambling behavior.

Under state statute, every month, sports betting operators will send 10% of their revenue to the Wyoming Gaming Commission. Each fiscal year, the first $300,000 of this money will be appropriated to the Wyoming Department of Health. 2023 was the first year the funds were available.

In December, Campbell County sought out applications from local agencies explaining how theyd spend the money, and Personal Frontiers was the only one to apply.

Kay Guire, executive director of Personal Frontiers, said shes seen an increase in gambling addiction in the past few years, just with how accessible it is and how many gambling options are available.

Off-track betting, the Wyoming Lottery and sports betting are a few of the ways people can legally gamble in Campbell County.

She said gambling addiction often goes hand in hand with other addictions.

Our clients stop substance abuse and theyve replaced it with something else, and sometimes it is gambling, she said. And its readily available, and some people dont know how to gamble responsibly.

Locally, there are no options for people who are struggling with gambling addiction. Guire said there isnt a Gamblers Anonymous chapter in the whole state of Wyoming, and the closest one to Gillette is in a small town three hours away.

The Campbell County Prevention Council wrote a letter of support, saying that those in Gillette who struggle with gambling addiction have to travel or participate in virtual programs.

This combined with long wait times and a lack of financial resources puts a strain on families who are living with addiction, wrote Ashley McRae, a certified prevention specialist for the county.

Personal Frontiers gambling addiction program will include weekly group meetings, individual counseling and mental health sessions, Guire said, adding that she also is applying for a $45,000 grant through the National Council on Problem Gambling for this program.

Guire said employees will have to go through some training, and that the program should be ready to train in the beginning of April.

There also will be a big push to raise awareness. Guire plans to talk with the various businesses that have gambling to get posters and magnets put up, and she also wants to give presentations on the program.

I think just getting the word out is half the battle, she said.

Guire said shes very excited to get this program going. For years Personal Frontiers has helped people struggling with drug addiction. Now, its branching out and hitting another addiction that affects adults of all ages.

Right now, where are they going? Theyre not, theyre continuing to go down that road. Now, they have another avenue, another road they can possibly go down, she said. I feel very strongly that people need help. Personal Frontiers would like to be the frontier of that help.

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Super Bowl Gambling Grows, But Pastors Are on the Sidelines | News & Reporting – ChristianityToday.com

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With the Super Bowl this weekend, dont expect many pastors to place a bet on Kansas City or San Francisco to win the game, but a few may have more than a rooting interest riding on the game.

Despite its legalization across many states, US Protestant pastors remain opposed to sports gambling, but theyre not doing much about it, according to a Lifeway Research study. Few pastors (13%) favor legalizing sports betting nationwide and most (55%) say the practice is morally wrong.

Anything can happen in sports, and many Americans want the same allure of an unexpected win in sports to translate into an unexpected financial windfall, said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. Most pastors see moral hazards in sports betting and believe American society would be better off without it.

Pastoral opposition

A majority of pastors (55%) believe betting on sports is morally wrong, including 33% who strongly agree. Around a third (35%) disagree, while 10% arent sure.

While the Bible does not explicitly say, Thou shall not gamble, biblical principles regarding work and wealth indicate that gambling is unwise, said Miles Mullin, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission vice president and chief of staff. The Bible teaches that sin has a ripple effect that harms not only the participant but those around him. This seems particularly true for addictive behaviors, and gambling is no different.

Evangelical pastors (62%) are more likely than mainline pastors (50%) to see sports gambling as morally wrong. Baptist (65%) and non-denominational pastors (63%) are more likely than those at Lutheran (42%) or Presbyterian/Reformed churches (46%) to agree it is wrong.

While there is some difference of opinion over the morality of sports betting, almost all pastors agree on what the legal status should be. Few (13%) agree sports betting should be legalized across the country, including 2% who strongly agree. Three in 4 pastors (75%) oppose nationwide legalization, and 13% arent sure.

Younger pastors, those aged 1844, are the most likely to support making sports betting legal across the U.S. (20%) and the least likely to oppose those efforts (64%). White pastors (76%) are more likely to oppose legalization than Black pastors (63%). Pastors in the South (78%) and Midwest (75%) are also more likely to disagree with legalizing sports gambling nationwide than those in the West (64%).

Again, evangelical pastors are more likely to oppose gambling than their mainline counterparts, with 80% of evangelical pastors compared to 64% of mainline pastors opposing legalization across the country. Pentecostals (85%) and Baptists (83%) are more likely to disagree with legalizing sports betting than Methodist (72%), Presbyterian/Reformed (71%), Lutheran (66%) and nondenominational pastors (66%).

The overall numbers are similar to a 2018 Lifeway Research study of US Protestant pastors conducted shortly after a Supreme Court ruling opened the door for an expansion of sports gambling across the country. In late summer 2018, 59% of pastors felt sports betting was morally wrong, and 12% thought it should be legal nationwide.

Pastoral apathy

Currently, some form of sports gambling is legal in more than 30 states and Washington, DC. But few pastors see it as an issue for them or their churches to address. This demonstrates a shift from their stated intentions in 2018, a few months after sports betting became a legal possibility across the country.

In 2018, pastors were asked, If sports betting is legal or soon becomes legal in your state, which of the following will your church do? Almost 9 in 10 (88%) said they would offer counseling for those struggling with addiction and debt. Two in three (65%) said they would have private conversations to discourage participation, and 60% would offer support groups for gambling addictions. Another 42% said they would advocate for stricter laws on sports betting. And 33% planned to use sermons to discourage participation. A little more than five years ago, 5% of US Protestant pastors said they wouldnt feel the need for their church to address the issue.

Today, few of those stated ambitions have been realized, and most pastors say they dont feel like they need to do anything about sports betting. Within the last year, 44% of pastors say theyve offered counseling for those struggling with debt or addiction and 32% have used private conversations to discourage participation in sports betting. Few say they have offered support groups for gambling addiction (11%), advocated for stricter laws on sports betting (8%) or used sermons to discourage participation (7%). Most pastors (56%) now say they havent felt the need for their church to address the issue in the last year.

Asked directly about their own participation, 2% of US Protestant pastors say they have placed one or more bets on sporting events in the last year.

Pastors are still not supportive of sports betting, but their plan for responding has changed in the last six years, said McConnell. Pastors 2018 intentions were to fight to keep our culture from hurting itself by lowering a standard. Now that most states have legalized sports betting, pastors appear less interested in focusing on this behavior. Many will likely follow through on their intentions if a specific need arises, but the reality is that intentions are easier than actions.

Baptist and Methodist pastors are often the ones most likely to be involved with the issue. Baptists are among the most likely to say theyve used sermons (13%) and private conversations (39%) to discourage participation. Methodists are among the most likely to have offered support groups for gambling addiction (16%). Both Methodists (14%) and Baptists (12%) are among the most likely to say theyve advocated for stricter laws on sports betting in the past year and to say theyve offered counseling for those struggling with debt or addiction (Methodists 48%, Baptists 46%).

Pastors 65 and older (49%) are less likely than those 18 to 44 (61%) and 55 to 64 (59%) to say they havent felt the need to address sports betting. Lutherans (71%) and Presbyterian/Reformed (67%) are more likely than Methodists (53%), Baptists (47%) and Pentecostals (42%) to believe its not necessary to get involved.

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Sports betting leading to increase in gambling addiction – Dayton 24/7 Now

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Sports betting leading to increase in gambling addiction  Dayton 24/7 Now

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Betting on the Super Bowl: Impacts of sports gambling in Ohio as state’s help hotline sees jump in calls – WKYC.com

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Betting on the Super Bowl: Impacts of sports gambling in Ohio as state's help hotline sees jump in calls  WKYC.com

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Sports gambling during the NFL Championship game will increase addiction rates – 25 News Now

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Sports gambling during the NFL Championship game will increase addiction rates  25 News Now

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Billionaires Are Trying to Bring Casinos and Gambling to Texas – Robb Report

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Billionaires Are Trying to Bring Casinos and Gambling to Texas  Robb Report

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Gambling becomes the first big issue of the legislative session – WBHM

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Gambling becomes the first big issue of the legislative session  WBHM

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DraftKings, helplines, and the hidden toll of sports gambling – The Boston Globe

Posted: at 3:50 am

Super Bowl Sunday means many things this year: parties, commercials, bean dips, guacamole bowls, loving Taylor Swift, hating Taylor Swift, discussing Taylor Swift over bean dips and guacamole, several hours of football there will be some football and finally a new and significant record that almost no one is discussing. By the end of the day, according to the American Gaming Association, a record 68 million Americans will wager a stunning $23 billion on the Super Bowl and most of them will be doing it legally.

How did we get here?

Six years ago, the Supreme Court struck down a federal law that prohibited sports gambling and effectively limited the practice to one place: Nevada. Almost overnight after the ruling, about a dozen states opened some sort of legal sportsbook and more were soon to come. Lawmakers, desperate to pad their state budgets, wanted to cash in by taxing the long-verboten business, and shiny new companies sprung up to give people what they wanted: a chance to place some action and make the game more interesting.

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Today, some form of sports gambling is legal in most states and, in many, including Massachusetts, people can place their bets from the comfort of their couches on their phones using apps provided by FanDuel, DraftKings, BetMGM, and others. In this new world, according to the ubiquitous advertisements, gambling is exciting and glamorous. People arent sitting alone in a sea of slot machines in the middle of the day. Theyre sitting alone in the blue glow of their phone screens and theyre hitting it big. The ads make it seem like that anyway. Everyone wins.

Ill be honest: I sometimes place bets on my phone, too $20 here, $10 there, and it can make the game more interesting. But it can also make it more agonizing. If I lose and I often lose Ill go to bed angry or wake up the next morning in a stew of regret. The $20 bet is like the second or third glass of wine its usually a mistake.

We dont see this side in the gambling advertisements. But there are people out there who see it every day and it can be dark. Gambling helplines across the country are overwhelmed with phone calls from people whove lost too much over the weekend, from spouses keeping secrets, from people contemplating suicide, from misguided callers who think the helpline can help them recoup their losses, from college kids whove frittered away thousands of dollars placing bets on their phones, and from their parents worried about their children losing money. Weve had an uptick in calls from parents, Felicia Grondin, the executive director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey, told me. Theyre just looking for someone to talk to.

Grondin expects similar conversations on Monday, the day after the Super Bowl. According to data compiled by the National Council on Problem Gambling, calls to gambling helplines typically peak between noon and 4 p.m. on Mondays, and staffers say theyre always inundated after big games. People need help, and regulators are worried that those in need might soon include underage gamblers. Last fall, the Massachusetts Gaming Commission aired concerns that people under the age of 21 might be placing bets, and Lia Nower, a leading gambling expert, said she believes its already happening.

Nower, the director of the Rutgers University Center for Gambling Studies, told me that the ads on television are designed to capture the attention of both adults and children the first generation of kids to grow up with widespread legalized gambling. Studies show that kids see these advertisements on TV, Nower said. They can remember the names of the companies. It makes them want to try it. And when younger gamblers do try it, Nower said, they are more likely to make impulsive choices. Theyre not just placing bets before the game but during it.

Old-school gamblers call the practice chasing. You start to lose, so you place a different bet to hedge your losses. Then, you start to lose that bet, so you place yet another wager to climb back in. And suddenly, if youre unlucky, youre down maybe a lot of money. In an instant, Nower said.

Its something that happened many years ago to one of our most notorious gamblers: baseball legend Pete Rose. At his low point in the 1980s, according to my reporting, Rose lost as much as $30,000 a week betting on sports, and he couldnt even place bets on his cellphone. He was chasing his losses, calling bookies on a landline.

Now that its so much easier to gamble, lawmakers need to have serious conversations about what comes next. Addiction counselors argue that more money needs to be set aside to get problem gamblers the help they need. Health care providers must start screening for gambling addiction, the way they screen for problems at home with drugs, intrusive thoughts, alcohol, and guns, and experts like Nower believe regulators need to reexamine how gambling is advertised, packaged, and sold.

Its like how cigarettes were marketed in the era of the Marlboro Man, Nower said. Thats where we are with gambling right now.

Its cool. Its all the rage. Sixty-eight million people will do it this Sunday, and no one wants to talk about how it will make us feel in the morning.

Keith OBrien is a journalist and author of the forthcoming Charlie Hustle: The Rise and Fall of Pete Rose, and the Last Glory Days of Baseball.

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The Super Bowl and gambling are locked in a tight and dangerous embrace – The Guardian

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The Super Bowl and gambling are locked in a tight and dangerous embrace  The Guardian

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Sports gambling addictions on the rise due to online betting, experts warn ahead of Super Bowl LVIII – WLS-TV

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