Gambling problem help-line calls have tripled since legislature legalized sports betting – pmg-ky2.com

Since sports betting became legal in Kentucky on Sept. 7, calls to the state problem-gambling hotline have nearly tripled, one of the states few problem-gambling counselors told June Leffler for KETs Kentucky Edition Wednesday.

Since December of 22 to 23, weve seen almost a thrfee-fold increase in calls, said Lionel Phelps of River Valley Behavioral Health in Owensboro.

Owensboro has two certified gambling counselors, but the state as a whole has only seven.

There are none in Lexington, theres none in Northern Kentucky, theres none in Bowling Green, and theres none in Paducah, but theres gambling all over the state, Kentucky Council on Problem Gambling Executive Director Mike Stone told Leffer. It is as much a geographic concern as it is a numerical concern. Theres one counselor in Eastern Kentucky.

When the General Assembly approved sports betting, it set up the states first problem-gambling fund, supplied by 2.5% of the states revenue from sports betting. That is projected to be about $1.2 million a year, but the money wont be available until well into 2024, said Stone.

Meanwhile, Stone said he is using gaming-industry contributions to recruit and train more counselors because we anticipate a wave of problem gambling surfacing in 2024, with the advent of the sports betting in the state.

Sports betting is available online, and that aspect is likely expanding how people bet, Leffler reports. At the Super Bowl, the betting will start with the coin toss, said Ronsolyn Clark, a counselor at Boulware Mission, an Owensboro residential program for men with drug and alcohol problems.

Clark said addiction to gambling is similar to drug addiction, in which people with the disorder get a high from the brains release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that acts like a hormone. The brain doesnt see it really much differently than drugs, as far as the dopamine it releases into the bloodstream, she said.

She said gambling disorder has the highest rate of suicide among all mental illnesses: One in five individuals with a gambling problem will attempt or complete suicide.

The National Council on Problem Gambling estimates that 1% of U.S. adults have a gambling disorder, and 2-3% have a gambling problem, Leffler reports: The consequences of problem gambling are arguably as devastating as those from a substance-use disorder.

The states problem-gambling hotline is 1-800-GAMBLER, answered by people in Kentucky around the clock, Leffler reports.

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Gambling problem help-line calls have tripled since legislature legalized sports betting - pmg-ky2.com