Casino gambling has now been legal in Nebraska for a year, and along with providing hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in new tax revenue, it also appears to have led to an increase in people seeking help for gambling problems.

David Geier, director of the Nebraska Problem Gamblers Assistance Program, said he’s seen a “gradual” increase in the number of people seeking assistance for problem gambling.

Geier said that from 2019-2021, the office saw an average of about 200-220 people per month seeking assistance. That grew to about 260 a month in the first six months of this year, when both the WarHorse Casino in Lincoln and the Grand Island Casino Resort were in operation.

“It’s a gradual process, but it’s going on,” Geier said. “We’re seeing it.”

He noted that it can take a long time for people to seek help for a gambling problem, so the number of problem gamblers could continue to go up.

“There’s a lag time between the time a gambling activity starts up and when they start to get into trouble,” Geier said. “That lag varies, but it can be many years, depending on the individual and the type of gambling.”

Mike Sciandra, education and outreach coordinator for Choices Treatment Center, said his organization also has seen more people seeking counseling for gambling problems this year.

“We’re definitely seeing an uptick,” said Sciandra, who himself is a recovered gambling addict.

He noted that Choices is not only seeing people coming in for counseling for the first time, “We’re also seeing a percentage of clients who are relapsing, too.”

Sciandra said he suspects some people who may have gotten hooked on casino gambling at nearby casinos in Council Bluffs, Iowa, decided they would give it another try now that there are casinos closer to home.

Those who are tempted to go to a casino in Lincoln or Grand Island or elsewhere who know they have a problem can voluntarily exclude themselves, and a handful have.

Tom Sage, executive director of the Nebraska and Racing and Gaming Commission, said it has processed 77 voluntary exclusion forms since casino gambling became legal in the state.

But Sciandra pointed out that it’s not just casinos that are causing people to get hooked on gambling.

He cited online gambling, sports betting and even the skill-type machines you might see in restaurants and convenience stores.

“It isn’t just the casinos that are impacting this,” Sciandra said. “They’re just one piece of the puzzle.”

The casino industry is still in its infancy in Nebraska and will continue to grow. Of the three casinos currently open, only the Grand Island one offers table games such as poker and craps, but those types of games will eventually be available at all the casinos.

Sports betting has added a new wrinkle since it started at WarHorse in June and in Grand Island in August.

Geier said statistics show that people engaging in sports betting start at an earlier age than other gamblers, on average, and also go from initial bet to the point of needing help in about half the time it takes with other forms of betting.

“Something about that form of gambling tends to get people into trouble a lot more quickly, and we don’t know what that is,” he said.

It may be the ubiquity of both legal and illegal sports betting, including apps that allow people to do it online.

The Nebraska Legislature has prohibited online betting in the state, requiring patrons to place sports bets inside a casino, either at a betting window or via a kiosk.

But Geier said he’s skeptical that prohibition will last. He noted that when Iowa first approved sports betting in 2019, it required people to register in person at a casino before they could bet. But it dropped that prohibition in 2021, which means Iowans can bet online without ever setting foot in a casino.

He said he suspects Nebraska will eventually follow the same route.

“If I had to make a prediction, I think the same kind of thing may happen in Nebraska as well,” Geier said.

One good thing about the advent of casinos as it relates to problem gambling is that it has meant more money for treatment and prevention efforts.

The state’s Compulsive Gamblers Assistance Fund receives 2.5% of casino taxes collected, and over the past year that has amounted to a little over $350,000.

Geier said the Gamblers Assistance Program has put that money to use in three different ways.

One has been to raise the rate it pays counselors so that it now matches the rate paid by Medicaid, he said.

It has also allowed the program to add more counselors.

“We’ve been adding counselors, one or two a month,” Geier said. “Not a lot in terms of the overall need in Nebraska, but still, to us in Nebraska, everyone counts.”

The third thing the money has been used for is a media campaign. That has involved placing ads in digital media outlets and on social media channels, as well as running TV ads on Big Ten football broadcasts, he said.

Sciandra, for his part, says he has seen another benefit to legalized casino gambling in Nebraska.

“In some ways, it’s almost a good thing that there are casinos here now,” said Sciandra, “because people actually see that there could be a problem because of the availability.”