EDITORIAL: Lottery, health department want to get in front of problem gambling

Posted 6/16/15

Data from tracker surveys of people who actually play the lottery in Wyoming tell us that the first concern does not play out in the state. The largest percentage of lottery players in Wyoming are middle-income and upper-income earners with a high …

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EDITORIAL: Lottery, health department want to get in front of problem gambling

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Opponents of establishing a lottery in Wyoming worried that the lottery would prey on the poor and create a growing number of problem gamblers.

Data from tracker surveys of people who actually play the lottery in Wyoming tell us that the first concern does not play out in the state. The largest percentage of lottery players in Wyoming are middle-income and upper-income earners with a high level of educational attainment.

The profile of problem gamblers in the state is not that clear.

That’s why the Wyoming Department of Health — with full support of the Wyoming Lottery Corporation — is going to undertake baseline research to get hard facts; is there an existing problem, and if so, of what dimension?  

As a member of the Wyoming Lottery Corporation board of directors, I can say the lottery takes the matter of problem gambling seriously. Lottery advertising carries constant responsible play messaging. Every ticket sold prints the phone number of the National Problem Gambling Hotline. Jon Clontz, CEO of the Wyoming Lottery Corporation, declares in few words: “We believe in corporate social responsibility.”

The planned Department of Health research is a good place to start. The experts need to understand gaming in the state, the player base in the state and what problem gambling is and what it is not. Then they can design education and treatment options as necessary.

The state law that set up the lottery in Wyoming provides that up to $200,000 a year in unclaimed prize money will go to the Department of Health to finance problem gambling research, education and/or treatment programs. And, yes, there is unclaimed prize money, usually on the low end of prizes won. The winners simply don’t redeem the winning tickets.

Lottery winners have 180 days in which to redeem a winning ticket. However, in the early stages of the Wyoming Lottery, printed ticket stock said winners had a year to claim prizes. That means that some eligible winnings will not go into the unclaimed prize fund until the end of August. Meanwhile, the Wyoming Lottery Corporation is keeping the Department of Health advised of the value of the accumulating unclaimed prize fund.

The statutory requirement to forward unclaimed prize money to the Department of Health creates a financial partnership between the the Wyoming Lottery Corporation and the agency. But the relationship has gone much beyond the annual issuance of a check.

Soon after lottery tickets went on sale in Wyoming Aug. 24, 2014, the Department of Health and lottery staff began monthly meetings to determine how best to head off, or deal with, problem gambling. That focus has produced an action plan that includes getting their arms around the status of problem gambling in the state today.

Among other priorities, the Department of Health has the goal of establishing a first actual Wyoming Council on Problem Gambling. This would be a certified and credentialed affiliate of the National Council on Problem Gambling.

In that line, the National Council on Problem Gambling is holding its large summer convention in Baltimore in July, and both the Department of Health and Wyoming Lottery Corporation will send representatives to learn more about problem gambling and to establish a relationship with the national body.

The goal for the lottery is to create a highly visible social responsibility model at the same time as it delivers on its mission of providing entertainment to Wyoming citizens and maximizing proceeds to the statutory beneficiaries — cities, towns and counties and the public schools through their permanent land trust.

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