Illinois has made changes to state law to help take a proactive approach to addressing problem gambling. Governor JB Pritzker recently signed Senate Bill 2749, which changes the Substance Use Disorder Act to help with those dealing with gambling addiction. The updated language to Senate Bill 2749 will facilitate a more coordinated statewide effort for problem gambling, whether that’s through early intervention strategies or treatment programs.
The bill states that gambling disorders “constitute a serious public health problem” and that “it is imperative that a comprehensive and coordinate strategy be developed” to address this issue. Within the bill, problem gambling is compared to drug abuse, since “both activate reward systems in the brain and produce comparable behavioral systems.”
With this update to Senate Bill 2749, it requires the state Department of Human Services to priortize problem gambling.
This includes facilitating early intervention strategies as preventative measures to problem gambling, along with proper treatment. It also involves them working with the state Board of Education to create resources that raises awareness of problem gambling.
The bill will require each Illinois sportsbook to have a statement that provides information on how users can get help for problem gambling, which will be prominently displayed on their app. The goal here is to make it easier for sports bettors to access the resources they need.
This development is significant because it highlights how Illinois is taking a proactive approach to dealing with problem gambling, which has increasingly become a problem throughout the country.
Problem gambling is an issue that has swept the nation with the increased popularity of sports betting. The update by Illinois to facilitate a more coordinated strategy on problem gambling treatment is the latest development in addressing this issue.
We’ve also seen it with the POINTS Act, which proposed to redirect one-third of deferral tax on sports betting to fund programs addressing problem gambling. These examples underscore how problem gambling has been at the forefront of discussions on how to improve the U.S. sports betting industry.
The updated language in Senate Bill 2749 isn’t the first attempt at early intervention strategies for problem gambling. Illinois banned sports betting ads at colleges last year. With young adults among the most vulnerable demographic to problem gambling, it was essential that they limited their exposure to aggressive marketing that we often see from sportsbooks.
Combined with an increased emphasis on providing support systems through updates to Senate Bill 2749, it’s clear that Illinois is setting the tone in attempting to deal with this growing problem.
Providing resources to help prevent and treat problem gambling is one way that the Illinois Gaming Control Board aims to create a safer environment for all sports bettors. They’re also ensuring that offshore sportsbooks are not operational within the state.
These operators don’t have the same consumer safeguards in place, including responsible gaming tools, putting users at risk.
That’s why the Illinois Gaming Control Board has issued cease-and-desist letters to illegal operators. Combined with a more coordinated effort at prioritizing responsible gaming, Illinois continues to act as an industry leader in combating this issue.
