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Washington State Faces Huge Gambling Explosion

WASHINGTON – As reported by the Seattle Post- Intelligencer: "This legislative session, momentum built like never before to find a permanent way to pay for treatment of the state's growing numbers of problem gamblers.

"But not only did the issue fail, the state is now facing two of the largest efforts to expand gambling since the late 1990s.

"Gov. Gary Locke is weighing whether to sign a bill to legalize Internet and telephone betting on horse racing. And anti-tax activist Tim Eyman is pushing an initiative to allow slot machines into private card rooms to pay for a property tax cut.

"Should the efforts succeed, legalized gambling could double in Washington -- and the ranks of problem gamblers, and the attendant social costs, would also swell.

"'If this state won't pay anything for treatment, they can't be considering expanding gambling,' said Jennifer McCausland, a former state deputy insurance commissioner who was one of the main lobbying forces in Olympia to reinstitute treatment funding.

"…Gambling revenues in Washington grew to more than $1.3 billion last year, more than double the revenues reported in 1998. At the same time, problem gambling has grown at a similar clip, adding about $78 million a year to the state's social costs.

"But Washington does nothing to treat the problem gamblers it has helped create by allowing legalized gambling to flourish. A successful, $500,000 treatment program funded by the Washington State Lottery's Mega Millions game was instituted in late 2002, but the money ran out last June…"

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