March is Problem Gambling Awareness Month. Nonprofit asks for regulations to limit gambling harm from Oregon Lottery slots machines.

PORTLAND, OR, UNITED STATES, March 20, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Oregon Lottery, in partnership with online gambling operator, DraftKings, recently announced record-setting revenue on sports betting, demonstrating a consumer appetite for handheld digital gambling.

Rising Concerns Amidst Success:
While acknowledging the Oregon Lottery's support of economic development, schools and parks, research indicates a correlation between online betting and increased rates of addiction, Voices of Problem Gambling Recovery (VPGR), Executive Director Kitty Martz states, “One in five people with disordered gambling attempts suicide, which is higher than any other addiction." (*https://scholars.law.unlv.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2027&context=facpub) She goes on to say, "Our state relies heavily on lottery revenue that disproportionately harms people who already experience systemic inequities. BIPOC communities, veterans, and people with mental health challenges tend to have higher rates of gambling disorder and are encouraged to seek support at the earliest sign of gambling becoming a problem.”

March is Problem Gambling Awareness Month - What You Can Do:
VPGR President Brian Ward suggests that, in lieu of putting the responsibility on Oregonians from high-risk groups to gamble responsibly, constituents should contact their legislators to introduce adequate gambling regulation. "There's a recent legislative interest in curtailing tribal casino expansion, but little notice is paid to the proliferation of lottery slots operated at small local delis. These venues tend to earn more than 50% of their revenue from Lottery's Vegas-style electronic slots, and almost all the gambling addiction in Oregon is from these machines. Voices would like to see the workarounds that give the lottery director, Mike Wells, final discretion on what constitutes a casino revisited."

Voices is organizing a campaign to inform legislators about the challenges with the Oregon Administrative Rule on Casino Prohibition (177-040-0061). They can be reached at: nolotterycasino@vpgr.net.

There are Free Services Available:
Voices of Problem Gambling Recovery is a nonprofit that offers free problem gambling education and peer services. They sponsor a speakers' bureau of individuals with lived experience who are glad to speak in your community, at your agency, or with members of the media.

If you or someone you know is experiencing negative consequences from gambling, please call 1-877-MY LIMIT. Free services are available across Oregon.

*Other sources:
http://www.ccpg.org/problem-gambling/more/gambling-and-suicide/ (last visited Aug. 15, 2016)
(“The National Council on Problem Gambling, citing various studies, reports that one in five
pathological gamblers attempts suicide, a rate higher than for any other addictive disorder.”).

AM. PSYCHIATRIC ASS’N, DIAGNOSTIC AND STATISTICAL MANUAL OF MENTAL
DISORDERS, 585, 587 (5th ed. 2013) [hereinafter DSM-5] (referencing these statistics); Paul W.C.
Wong et al., Suicidal Ideation and Familicidal–Suicidal Ideation Among Individuals Presenting
to Problem Gambling Services—A Retrospective Data Analysis, 35 CRISIS 219, 219–21 (2014)
(reporting the results of a research study finding that among 3,686 clients seeking treatment from
problem gambling services in Hong Kong, twenty percent had suicidal thoughts); see also
generally Bea Aikens, Gambling Addiction Suicide, LANIE’S HOPE, http://lanieshope.org/gam
bling-addiction-suicide (last visited

Kitty Martz
Voices of Problem Gambling Recovery
+1 503-486-7377
email us here

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