The state legislature takes away more than $500,000 from programs for addicts. The decision leaves the governor - who hasn't yet signed the bill - with a big decision: Take money away from problem gamblers or from low-income families.
GamblingGates.com COMMENTS: Hey, what is going on? The state authorities collect gambling money from the industry to treat addicts and… spend that money on the poor and needy... What about the tens of millions from the touchplay machines? What did Iowa do with that money? It could still be coming in if the house and senate would have used their heads. That way the vice could pay for it own sins. Anytime you have the blind leading the ignorant, you're going to get lost. Now taxpayers hold the tab!
Gambling addiction treatment out of money in Iowa: $525,000 taken away from treatment for gambling addicts
Iowa lawmakers are hearing complaints that their action to take $525,000 away from treatment for gambling addicts has left some areas of Iowa with little or no money for services for the next six weeks.
The money, budgeted for the fiscal year that ends June 30, was not allocated to any of the 10 agencies contracted to provide treatment to problem gamblers in the state. So lawmakers proposed it go to other programs, mostly to help low-income families pay heating bills.
But officials from agencies that help problem gamblers say the unallocated money has been critical in past years as a safety net to help bridge the gap between their contracts with the state and overruns on service.
The help for gambling addictions is critical, particularly since 2005 when state gambling regulators agreed to issue four new gambling licenses and to permit casino table games at racetracks, treatment advocates say.
No treatment provider hired by the state has cut off services to gambling addicts. But leaders of at least one nonprofit group that serves the Des Moines metro area say they don't expect to get paid $26,254 for services provided in April. In addition, the group says there is currently less than $3,000 allocated by the state for the area to pay for services in May and June when, typically, their costs are closer to $50,000.
"Central Iowa Gambling Treatment Program cannot continue to provide pro bono services, or go into debt," the nonprofit program's director, Lisa Pierce, said in a handout she gave to lawmakers this week during a Government Oversight Committee meeting.
Iowa lawmakers allocate about $6 million a year to treat people with gambling addictions. That money is derived from gambling revenue paid to the state by casinos. Of that amount, nearly $1.7 million is diverted to treatment of other types of addictions, which leaves $4.3 million for gambling addiction treatment.
That means there will be little or no financial assistance for agencies that had more demands for services than what they were initially contracted to provide. It's possible, however, that some programs may have excess money that could be redirected to help higher-need areas, VanderLinden said.
Members of the Government Oversight Committee heard the arguments and said they're talking the issue seriously.
Read also: Guide on Wise Addiction-Free Online Gambling. Part 1.
