Mar. 10—The Kentucky Council on Problem Gambling (KYCPG) opened its annual two-day Educational and Awareness Conference for the 26th year Thursday at the Holiday Inn Owensboro Riverfront to help address concerns regarding gambling throughout the commonwealth.

Dr. RonSonlyn Clark, president and director of education for KYCPG and addiction recovery program coordinator for Boulware Mission, and Mike Stone, executive director for KYCPG, said concerns around gambling have risen in recent years.

Stone said since 2018, the number of calls received by the gambling crisis hotline, which is managed by RiverValley Behavioral Health, have doubled, while Clark said in-person gambling has risen from 23% to 32% since the height of the coronavirus pandemic in the United States.

“We’re seeing a continuing increase in the monthly call logs of people that are calling in for assistance,” Stone said.

Stone said there is a list of criteria that has been developed to help mental healthcare professionals determine an individual’s level of gambling addiction, such as those having five or more of those criteria being classified as disordered gamblers, people with two to four are considered problem gamblers and those having one criteria would be at-risk for becoming a problem gambler or developing disordered gambling.

Stone said that the National Council on Problem Gambling recently did a survey on gambling behaviors, which showed that 78% of Kentucky adults have gambled “in some form or another within the last year.”

“If you go by the raw percentages from the … study, we’re looking at somewhere around 40,000 to 50,000 addicted gamblers, (around) 75,000 to 100,000 problem gamblers and probably somewhere above 250,000 to 500,000 at-risk gamblers just in Kentucky,” he said.

Clark said specific populations tend to deal with gambling issues.

“In the addicted to substances population, Alcoholics Anonymous would estimate that up to a third of their members would actually also need Gamblers Anonymous,” she said. “When we look at our in-treatment groups (and) programs, that number is anywhere from 35-50% have co-occurring gambling disorders.”

Additionally, Clark said teenage gambling is “growing exponentially” along with a rise among senior citizens.

Regarding the adolescent population, one growing concern is the popularity of esports and electronic online gaming, with the latter increasing from 62% to 76% post-COVID in the country, according to Clark.

“The gaming industry has become adept at the use of pop-up ads that are enticements for the participants to gamble,” Stone said. “We’re seeing transference of their game playing from the esports type of (competition) into not only being competitive, but also being able to gamble, and it seems to be very addictive.”

Clark said the council sees gambling has a “major public health issue.”

“It affects and destroys the family structure in many families,” she said. “In families with problem (and) addictive gambling, there’s often divorce, there’s often intimate partner violence, increased amounts of child abuse ….”

Additionally, Clark said those having gambling issues tend to not take care of themselves physically or mentally, leading to concerns regarding anxiety, depression and more.

“It is the No. 1 mental health disorder as it relates to suicide attempts,” she said. “Anywhere from 20-25% of those who get into trouble with gambling (and) become addicted to gambling will end up attempting suicide, and many complete those suicides.”

Stone hopes medical professionals who attend the conference will understand the severity of gambling problems and will have better knowledge of how to screen and treat gamblers they see on a regular basis.

“… Every single counselor I have ever talked to tells me that treating gamblers is more difficult and has to be done with some additional and different protocols than treating someone who is abusing alcohol (or) substances such as cocaine or heroin,” he said. “If you don’t touch them directly in regard to their gambling, you can’t really solve their addiction.”

If needing more information or support regarding gambling, reach out to the gambling crisis hotline by calling 1-800-GAMBLER or visit kygamblinghelp.org.

For more information about the Kentucky Council on Problem Gambling, visit kycpg.org.