Virginia Sportsbooks Will Soon Be Paying Into Problem Gambling Fund

Legislators in the Commonwealth of Virginia are set to make a bipartisan push for more state funding to support problem gambling.

Virginia regulators were widely applauded after assisting a teacher get paid by a sportsbook around this time last year after Gambling911.com and other web influencers intervened.

Interestingly enough, the state that gets high marks for siding with gamblers doesn't even have a Gaming Commission set up. 

That's set to change when a committee is set to vote in November on the creation of a new independent state agency — dubbed the Virginia Gaming Commission — to consolidate the regulatory powers over online gambling, charity gaming, bingo, live horse racing, fantasy contests, the state’s five licensed casinos, and 10 licenses for Rosie’s Gaming Emporium.

They'll also be looking to have gambling companies pay into a problem gambling fund.

Markus Schmidt of the Virginia Mercury delves into the problem gambling situation in the commonwealth:

Because there are currently no federal funds designated for problem gambling treatment or research — unlike the billions of dollars in funding for alcohol, tobacco and drug addiction — the General Assembly last year passed legislation creating a new Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Advisory Committee within the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services to address and mitigate gambling addiction in Virginia.

The legislature previously created a Problem Gambling Treatment and Support Fund to help pay for “counseling and other support services for compulsive and problem gamblers, developing and implementing compulsive and problem gambling treatment and prevention programs, and providing grants to support organizations that provide assistance to compulsive and problem gamblers.”

Advocates for combating problem gambling, including Doura-Schawohl, have been pushing to create a state fund even before a 2021 survey found that Virginia ranked 27th in the nation with a per capita spending of just 27 cents on measures countering the effects of the addiction.

“I think more shocking was when I did an estimate for the annual cost we as the taxpayers are incurring because we are not funding this efficiently, including divorce, bankruptcy, crime, healthcare for suicidal ideations, depression and anxiety,” Doura-Schawohl told the committee. “We are talking about individuals who are in the throes of an addiction which often compromises their finances.”

Substance abuse is 338 times more funded in Virginia than problem gambling services, but it is only seven times more prevalent within the state’s communities, Doura-Schawohl said.

By  Gilbert Horowitz Gilbert is the esteemed reporter for Gambling911 covering all gamuts of the industry.  He has been with the site for the better part of a decade.  Gilbert works out of the Miami Beach bureau.