MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Problem gamblers in S.C. face uncertain future of treatment programs
By BETH LAWTON
MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

WASHINGTON - South Carolina officials say that changing budget priorities have led them to eliminate next year's funding to assist problem gamblers.

By state law, the first $1 million of unclaimed lottery prize money should go toward helping gambling addicts. Instead, all of this year's unclaimed lottery prize money will go toward purchasing school buses, according to the House Ways and Means Committee.

In the 2003 budget year, the total unclaimed money was $5.7 million, officials said.

The money for treatment from last year's prizes had not accumulated until early 2003 and programs to use that funding are in development stages, according to Mike Sponhour, the spokesman for the state Budget and Control Board. The South Carolina Education Lottery is just 19 months old.

The South Carolina Education Lottery Commission in August started working on ways to repackage help for problem gamblers, but the delayed and inconsistent funding is challenging the "patchwork" system in place now, according to John Hart, a spokesman for the Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services. The two agencies are working together on the issue.

A Senate Finance committee member said it is possible the money will be reinstated for the 2005 fiscal year. But Sponhour said he was not sure what would happen to the programs being developed now when the $1 million runs out. "That's up to the general assembly," he said.

The treatment and prevention programs the agencies are developing now, including a hotline and counselor training, are using money allocated last year.

The Lottery Commission will spend $500,000 on a 24-hour hotline and $500,000 on training counselors statewide this year using last year's allocated funding, Hart said.

That hotline, which will be separate from the current 1-888-SCPREVENTS helpline may not open until late this fall. The Commission may also use television advertising to encourage addicted gamblers to get help.

"We've done all this without any money, so it's been a little sketchy," Hart said. "But we've done that to keep something in a holding pattern until the funds come through."

Many residents were concerned that the number of gambling addicts would increase when the lottery started in 2000, addiction counselor Thurston Smith said. Smith, a former Hilton Head resident, works at the Ralph Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston and has trained more than 150 addiction counselors to deal with gambling.

"My response is, ënot necessarily,'" Smith said. "But (the lottery) may help expose the already existing addicts, because addiction, like anything else, needs a venue. Like any virus, it needs a host."

Residents who think they may have a problem with gambling can call the 1-888-SCPREVENTS hotline and listen to a recorded message that will direct them to a local addiction services office for referrals.

"I would hesitate to call that treatment for hard core pathological gamblers," Hart said. The department has provided some training and information to counselors, and the staff also has a list of private counselors and Gamblers Anonymous meetings in the state.

People who have difficulty controlling their gambling may also call the state office of the National Council on Problem Gambling, but according to the state Lottery Commission Web site. That office is in Winterhaven, Fla.

Smith said the one-day training seminars are helpful to counselors, "but they are not necessarily enough training for individuals to have all the tools they need to treat."

Current figures were not available, but a 1999 survey of existing clients in the state system revealed about 6 to 7 percent of them had a gambling problem, Hart said. But that study was completed before video poker was made illegal in the state in 2000.

In the past 18 months, about 55 people have stopped by the department's offices statewide to request help, Hart said.

Gambling addiction is a significant problem for retirees in Florida, said addiction counselor Thurston Smith. "I think that might be a problem for us in the future," Smith said. South Carolina is a popular place for retirees, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

There are no projections for 2004 unclaimed prizes since the lottery is less than two years old, officials said.

The next meeting between the Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services and the Lottery Commission will be in September.

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