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Illinois recognizes gambling addiction, allowing new treatment options · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Illinois recognizes gambling addiction, allowing new treatment options. Written by
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  Speaker 1: Maggie Doherty. This article is being read by an automated
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  Speaker 1: voice brought to you by Everlett. Chicago. Governor J. B.
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  Speaker 1: Pritzker signed a bill Friday that officially recognizes gambling disorder
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  Speaker 1: as an addiction in Illinois. The legislation, Senate Bill twenty
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  Speaker 1: seven forty nine updates the state's existing Substance Use Disorder
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  Speaker 1: Act to codify gambling addiction under the same framework as
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  Speaker 1: alcohol and drug use disorders, allowing the Illinois Department of
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  Speaker 1: Human Services Behavioral Health Division to offer programs in support
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  Speaker 1: to compulsive gamblers and affected families. The bill sponsor, State
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  Speaker 1: Senator Julie Morrison D Lake Forrest, said recognizing the disorder
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  Speaker 1: under the law would make it easier for the state
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  Speaker 1: to provide resources for those struggling with gambling Incas we
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  Speaker 1: see people who have alcohol dependencies, people who have drug addictions,
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  Speaker 1: I think we recognize those as disorders, and it's in
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  Speaker 1: statute and we are providing different granting mechanisms, different ways
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  Speaker 1: to help those people across the state. Morrison said, we
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  Speaker 1: haven't done that with gambling, and that's what this bill
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  Speaker 1: is about. It's just recognizing the fact this is also
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  Speaker 1: another addiction disorder and those people also need the help.
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  Speaker 1: The bill passed with broad bipartisans support this spring, receiving
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  Speaker 1: dissenting votes from only eleven Republican representatives in the House
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  Speaker 1: and passing unanimously in the Senate. Gambling disorder is often
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  Speaker 1: considered a hidden disease, as the symptoms can be less
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  Speaker 1: physically evident than alcohol or drug abuse. But according to experts,
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  Speaker 1: the dopamine release that compulsive gamblers receive when placing a
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  Speaker 1: bet creates a compulsion just as strong gambling also has
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  Speaker 1: one of the highest rates of suicide of any addictive disorder.
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  Speaker 1: The National Council on Problem Gambling estimates one in five
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  Speaker 1: compulsive gamblers have tried to take their own life. In Illinois,
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  Speaker 1: more than a million people more than one in ten
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  Speaker 1: adults are estimated to have a gambling addiction or to
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  Speaker 1: be at risk of developing one. A recent investigation by
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  Speaker 1: Capital News Illinois and Illinois Answers Project found that people
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  Speaker 1: in Illinois lost more than seven point seven billion dollars
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  Speaker 1: gambling last year. That spending is fueled by compulsive gamblers
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  Speaker 1: who drain inheritances, work bonuses, and nest eggs to fund
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  Speaker 1: their addiction. The ability to hide the disease and the
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  Speaker 1: lack of public awareness about it means people don't often
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  Speaker 1: seek treatment. According to providers who specialize in gambling addiction treatment.
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  Speaker 1: When they do, the resources available to help them remain
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  Speaker 1: a leap year behind treatment options for alcohol and drug addiction,
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  Speaker 1: said Ryan Ayton, a policy analyst with the Illinois Association
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  Speaker 1: for Behavioral Health or IABH, which advocates for the prevention
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  Speaker 1: and treatment of addiction and mental illness. Still, Ayton cheered
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  Speaker 1: the bill becoming law as a massive step forward. Subsubstance
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  Speaker 1: disorder has treatment facilities, there's not gambling facilities. In the
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  Speaker 1: same way, Otten said, this is a big step because
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  Speaker 1: we're really bringing the attention first. Attention is the thing
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  Speaker 1: that gambling needs because it is something so normalized as
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  Speaker 1: a whole. According to IDHs, recognizing gambling as an addiction
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  Speaker 1: under the law is intended to provide a level of
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  Speaker 1: legitimization for the disorder, helping to address public stigma. The
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  Speaker 1: bill took immediate effect after receiving Pritzker's signature. What's covered
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  Speaker 1: and what's not before the passage of the bill, compulsive
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  Speaker 1: gamblers in Illinois could only receive state funded inpatient services
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  Speaker 1: if they also had a substance use disorder that required
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  Speaker 1: inpatient treatment. The law now allows the state to offer
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  Speaker 1: treatment for compulsive gambling on its own, according to IDHs,
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  Speaker 1: also allows the state to provide additional training to addiction counselors,
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  Speaker 1: and expands options for prevention services, such as offering early
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  Speaker 1: awareness and intervention programs in high schools and colleges. The
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  Speaker 1: Pritzker administration has made clear that gambling must be responsibly
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  Speaker 1: regulated with strong consumer protections and meaningful investments in treatment
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  Speaker 1: and prevention, a spokesperson for Pritzker told Capital News Illinois
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  Speaker 1: in an email twenty seven. Forty nine builds on that
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  Speaker 1: commitment by strengthening Illinois approach to gambling disorder prevention, education,
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  Speaker 1: and treatment. However, advocates like IABH worry about the lack
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  Speaker 1: of guaranteed funding or specific timeline for implementation in the legislation.
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  Speaker 1: The bill did not allocate any new funding for treatment,
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  Speaker 1: though lawmakers set aside fifteen million dollars in the fiscal
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  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six budget to the treatment and prevention of
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  Speaker 1: compulsive gambling, up five million dollars from the year before,
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  Speaker 1: but the amount the state actually spends to treat gambling
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  Speaker 1: addiction remains small. Only six cents for every one hundred
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  Speaker 1: dollars collected in state gambling taxes was devoted to treatment
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  Speaker 1: and prevention last year. People familiar with the bill say
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  Speaker 1: it does not make gambling addiction treatment eligible for Medicaid payments,
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  Speaker 1: a major barrier to treatment for low income people. Although
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  Speaker 1: IABH analyst Aighten said he hoped to see a bill
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  Speaker 1: introduce next session that could build on the groundwork laid
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  Speaker 1: by this law. Now that the addiction has been recognized,
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  Speaker 1: Aighton added that actual prevention and treatment resources can follow.
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  Speaker 1: This bill has been probably one of the biggest gambling
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  Speaker 1: bills we've seen in many, many years, because it does
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  Speaker 1: bring that awareness and does bring the attention to an
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  Speaker 1: emerging problem, Ayton said. Capital News Illinois is a nonprofit,
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  Speaker 1: non partisan news service that distributes state government coverage to
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  Speaker 1: hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by
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  Speaker 1: the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.