CHEYENNE — The first meeting of the Select Committee on Gaming revealed a bundle of problems with current state law.
The major ones dealt with local control over the establishment of new gambling spots; the cities want more power, which they will get.
The one law I was interested in was the statute mandating up to $200,000 to invest in local programs to treat or deter addictive gambling.
All this money comes from gaming, not the state.
The local control idea was great but it just isn’t working.
The current system called for distribution of a chunk of money to Wyoming’s 23 counties according to the number of local residents aged 18 (betting age) or over.
The total amount available now for distribution is $300,000 (the new ceiling) but a half dozen or so counties turned it down. Why? Because some counties said it was too little to do much of anything.
For example. Last year Niobrara County turned back its payout of $1,700. So did Hot Springs County reject its share of $3,200.
“What can you do with $1,700?" asked Jeremiah Rieman, executive director for the Wyoming County Commissioners Association during the meeting.
The answer is — not much in this inflationary economy — perhaps a set of brochures warning about the addictive dangers of gambling.
Rieman said the Department of Health has no gambling addiction program — is only a pass-through to distribute the money and —furthermore would like to get out of that task.
Commenting that the system is “disjointed,” he recommended allocating more money from gambling revenue so the counties can do something more effective.
Meanwhile, John Clontz, the director of the state lottery who is also head of the gaming problem council said the statutes regarding the council on gambling problems were “vague.”
When he began to put the council together he said the only person he found with any experience was the late Ed Atchison of Cheyenne who had lived and worked in Las Vegas.
Atchison was in some part responsible for the law that set up the program for people with gambling addiction.
Unfortunately he was overly zealous which led to him being barred from gaming related meetings before his death.
Does Wyoming have a problem with gambler addiction?
One study in 2022 said not much.
The council has authorized a University of Wyoming study to get another view given the rise in legal gambling
Unlike drug or alcohol abuse, gambling addiction
isn’t manifested by slurry speech or a stumbling walk. It is more internal yet has the same basic cause as other addictions.
It is the “Hidden Addiction.
According to testimony at the committee meeting, about 20 people have reported themselves as wanting to “self-seclude.”
Committee members questioned how that was possible.
Large states like Arizona have multiple programs for people who gamble out of control, including logos and brochures and programs like Gamblers Anonymous.
Their problem, which could be Wyoming’s, is the cost of mental health services for clients not covered by an insurance policy.
At any rate, the Legislature must learn to deal with a rapidly growing industry that may be like Pandora’s Box.
The fallout may be the victims Ed Atchison warned us about —the gambling addicts who lost it all in Las Vegas.
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Contact Joan Barron at 307-632-2534 or jmbarron@bresnan.net
