Awareness of problem gambling slowly increasing

By: EDWARD SIFUENTES - Staff Writer | Saturday, March 3, 2007 10:26 PM PST ∞

VISTA ---- A few weeks ago, Dr. Suzanne Graupner Pike, a psychologist specializing in treating compulsive gamblers, was on the brink of closing her Vista office.

She is one of about two dozen therapists in the state trained to treat people for problem gambling ---- a growing concern in a state where gambling is a $13 billion industry.

But her practice is far from lucrative due to her patients' financial problems and because most insurance companies don't cover their treatment. In fact, she said she was having trouble paying the rent on her office and was considering moving to a cheaper location.

"I'm worried. I'm desperate," she said in her sparse office on South Melrose Drive. "It's a day-to-day thing. I'm probably going to have to pay the office rent in installments next month."

Her predicament is an example of a growing statewide problem, advocates say. Since 2000, the state's booming gambling industry has blown up to rival that of Nevada, in large part due to booming American Indian casinos, but funding for treatment programs for compulsive gamblers have kept nowhere near the same pace.

The state recently released a study that estimates there are as many as 1.2 million adult compulsive gamblers in California. A 2006 report by the California Research Bureau estimated that problem and pathological gambling costs the state $1 billion, largely in costs related to crime, bankruptcy and public health services.

The state Legislature took notice of the growing problem in a hearing held last week. Tribal casinos, the state lottery, card clubs and racetracks have all contributed to the problem, researchers and advocates told the Senate Governmental Organization Committee on Tuesday.

The state's Office of Problem and Pathological Gambling has a budget of only $3 million a year. The money, which comes from Indian casinos, pays for a small staff, a few research projects and marketing for the help line.

Tribal leaders have said the whole industry, not just Indian casinos, should share in helping to solve the problem.

"Though other segments of the industry have been thriving for years, Indian gaming continues to be the only sector that subsidizes state problem gambling programs," Anthony Miranda, chairman of the California Nations Indian Gaming Association, a tribal casino trade group, said at a recent conference. "Is this fair?"

Some tribes pay part of their revenues into a Special Distribution Fund, which helps offset some of the problems casinos cause in nearby communities, including problem gambling.

In San Diego County, the Indian Gaming Local Community Benefit Committee, a joint county and tribal government group, helps distribute the money locally.

Of the $3 million available to the county, the committee recently announced it would set aside $49,920 to start a pilot program aimed at training problem gambling counselors. The rest of the money goes primarily to fire and rescue departments in East County.

The program is a good start, but there is much more that needs to be done, said Bruce Roberts, executive director of the California Council on Problem Gambling, a nonprofit group that promotes awareness, education, research and treatment of compulsive gambling.

"It's minimal and very limited," said Roberts, who helped write the proposal for the pilot program.

Vista's Graupner Pike said she hopes her practice, the San Diego Center for Pathological Gambling, will get the contract to supervise the training program.

"I'm embarrassed about this, but I'm overjoyed over $49,000," Graupner Pike said after learning that the grant was funded.

She said her patients are often deep in debt, their family relationship are strained, some contemplate suicide and others seek help only after they've committed crimes to help feed their gambling addiction.

"For a gambler to come in for treatment means that they have lost," Graupner Pike said. "So I have to start out with that."

Graupner Pike, who serves as an expert witness on trials involving problem gambling, said many cases are starting to appear in courts.

Last month, Chargers safety Terrence Kiel pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanor charges of transporting and distributing codeine-based cough syrup. He was placed on probation, ordered to register as a narcotics offender and to undergo counseling for a gambling problem.

His attorney said Kiel's gambling involved playing blackjack at local casinos.

In a report released in November, the office identified more funding for treatment programs as one of its top priorities. By comparison, Oregon spends about $2.9 million a year on problem gambling services, or about $0.89 in per capita spending. California's $3 million is about $0.09 in per capita spending.

State Sen. Jim Battin, R-Palm Desert, who authored Senate Bill 621, which outlined the system for allocating money from the Special Distribution Fund to local communities, said the state office needs to develop an action plan before the Legislature can give it more funding.

"It would be foolish to write a blank check to them," Battin said in an interview last week.

Roberts, who testified before the committee, said the state needs to invest about 1 percent of gambling industry's gross revenues to address treatment.

The hearing was held as the Legislature begins to consider several renegotiated gambling agreements that would allow tribes in Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties to expand the number of slot machines they operate in exchange for payments to the state coffers.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who included the estimated $500 million in casino revenues in his budget proposal last week, signed the agreements last year just days before the end of the legislative session. None were ratified by the Legislature.

The governor's proposed 2007-08 budget would increase funding for the Office of Problem and Pathological Gambling to $3.3 million.

According to the state's problem gambling study, between 9,000 and 15,000 Californians seek help each year, but that number would and should soar to between 30,000 and 49,000 if the services were available.

Roberts said those are daunting figures. And though the hearing was a good sign, he said he wanted lawmakers to realize that those numbers represent people's lives.

"I tried to humanize the problem," Roberts said. "I wanted to make sure the people that are being harmed are not being left behind."

Monday marks the beginning of a national Problem Gambling Awareness Week. The state's Office of Problem and Pathological Gambling plans a marketing campaign to publicize its help line, (800) 426-2537.

-- Contact staff writer Edward Sifuentes at (760) 740-3511 or esifuentes@nctimes.com.

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