Washington’s legislators are feeling benevolent.
Or maybe embarrassed.
Fourteen years ago, was the last time lawmakers looked into the state’s problem gambling policies.
Since then “the gambling industry has nearly doubled to more than a three-billion-dollar industry.”
‘Industry’, used twice in ten words or less by the lawmakers, is often meant to describe “economic activity concerned with the processing of raw materials and manufacture of goods in factories.”
Also known as hard work.
Synonyms are industriousness, assiduity, and labor.
There is sweat involved in an industry.
Not sure pulling a lever on a slot machine qualifies.
Nevertheless, for this ‘industry’, and for the gamblers who don’t seem to get it, which is to say they’ve gone and got themselves addicted, House Bill 1880 would establish – for the first time in nearly a decade-and-a-half – a study group.
The study group would study gamblers gone bad.
The first step of this study is the establishment of a preliminary study group.
The preliminary study group would study the matter of problem gambling and make available the results of their study to the Joint Legislative Task Farce (sorry, Force) which would then study the findings of the preliminary study and, based on their study of the preliminary study, the JLTF will make recommendations on this problem of Problem Gambling to the Legislature.
But first, or actually second since the preliminary study is first, there must be found, appointed, selected or otherwise corralled 12 members (a-l) for the JLTF who are willing to serve on the study group.
There’s also an ‘m’ category labeled ‘others’ that the JLTF is responsible to seat at the table and their job will be to form subcommittees to study the matter further.
After all, one of the already predetermined possibilities (p.3, line 5, letter i) of all this study is that further study may be needed.
Whaddyawannabet that’ll happen?
Regardless, even if the JLTF determines more study is needed, there is a drop-dead deadline – of sorts – by which this study of the study and recommendations as a result of the study’s study can no longer be studied and that is 21-months from now at which time a preliminary report of all the studying will be made, and a year following that a final report of their studies will be due.
Meanwhile, bless their hearts, House Bill 1975, that would authorize sports betting conducted by the tribes, is moving right along.
Post-script: For comparison purposes, New York last year – according to a study – had “229 cases of people seeking care for problem gambling.”
New York spends $2,600,000 annually for gambling treatment and prevention.
That’s $11,353.71 per problem gambler (if you don’t count advertising to draw them in to the 17 state-funded outpatient clinics).
In contrast, the National Institute of Health (NIH) which cares for chimpanzees, received $9,400,000 this last year from the Federal Government for the monkeys’ “care, maintenance and transportation” (p.171).
Since there are 504 NIH-supported chimps, that’s $18,650.79 per chimpanzee (presumably including bananas).
Conclusion: Chimps are better served that casino chumps.
Although that made need more study.
Mr. Anderson,
I bet you 2 to 1 gambling will never be stopped. In addition to the gamblers being addicted to gambling, the casino owners and tax collecting bodies are addicted to the cash flow income.
As a police officer I handled so many problem cases where the victim and the suspect in the incident such as domestic violence answered my question with the same repeat answer.
Questions: 1) Where did you meet this wife beater? 2) Where did you meet this gold digger?
Answer: Down at the casino.
I stay as far away from the casino as I can.
Keep up your fight, Mr. Anderson. If the casios disappear, our world will be a better place.
Joseph Boyle
Nice to see Dave and Joe are still trying to keep me from doing things that are bad for me. Did they ever get rid of Lakewood Donut House?
Thanks David, Maybe we can get the casinos to pay for treatment of problem gamblers. How about appointing a committee to study that?
There is a history here locally with problem-gambling treatment programs.
On August 6, 2012, the Lakewood City Council approved receipt of a $55,000 federal grant wherein each successive year’s financial support for the problem gambling treatment program depended upon casinos increasingly chipping in to sustain the effort.
It didn’t happen.
After only two years into what was initially proposed as a four-year program, the Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) money was used to purchase Sea-Doos to ply the waters of Steilacoom Lake instead of treat problem gamblers.
In 2012 Lakewood became one of only two cities in the nation, the other being Amherst, New York, to operate the Problem Gambling Court via “the 2012 Department of Justice grant to support the County Prosecutor and the Evergreen Council on Problem Gambling – a grant application for a new program to provide therapeutic justice to problem gamblers.”
Lakewood would partner with the Evergreen Council on Problem Gambling to enroll up to 40 citizens per year over the next four years who demonstrated “addictive gambling tendencies.”
Participants would receive – in addition to a gambling recovery journal/guide – “a complete gambling assessment, 32 weeks of group sessions, six monthly group sessions, six individual sessions, and five voice stress tests.”
Then City Manager Andrew Neiditz told the council that this grant was “consistent with community interest in mitigating difficulties associated with problem gamblers.”
So other than purchasing sea-doos, what did the grant – ostensibly for the purpose of reclaiming the lives of local gambling addicts – actually accomplish?
For one, local grant-award recipients attended the three-day “27th National Conference on Problem Gambling” at the Doubletree Hotel, Seattle Airport.
For two, “the crew from Pierce County Gambling Court plans to travel to Las Vegas to see how they provide services in their Gambling Court.”
For three, in June of 2014, the panel of therapists, judges, prosecutor and defense attorneys traveled to the annual meeting of Therapeutic Gambling held in Florida.
The four-year program ended at but two years – with recipients of the problem-gambling grant money having attended at least two conferences; graduated 10 problem gamblers and recorded 13 dropouts.
And two Sea-Doos.
What was the casino contribution?
According to the original agreement which was approved by the city council on August 6, 2012, each successive year’s financial support for the problem gambling treatment program depended upon casinos increasingly chipping in to sustain the effort.
While the “organization that proved unwilling to perform” is not identified, but was touted as the reason for the demise of the problem-gambling treatment program and the purchase of the Sea-Doos instead, the downward spiral of gambling tax revenue provided the city may well indicate who did not live up to its part of the bargain.
In August of 2012 Lakewood projected the check to be cut by the casinos to the city by year’s end would be $3,071,000. It wasn’t. Over a half-million dollars less – $2,425,133 to be exact – was what the city took to the bank from gambling taxes.
Good luck!