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While gambling can be fun and exciting, there are also huge financial, personal and social risks with even casual gambling. As sports gambling has become increasingly popular, and legalized in more states across the country, issues with sports betting as a whole have also increased.
According to Yale Medicine, this increase has disproportionately affected young people. Between 2 to 7 percent of young people are dealing with a gambling disorder. When compared with the overall statistics of 1 percent of adults dealing with this disorder, it reveals an unsettling trend.
People are engaging in betting at a younger age, which is not and of itself bad, but are then have difficulty managing their habit or stopping it all together.
An Illinois Department of Human Services report found that this trend was more serious in the Prairie State, with more than 68 percent of adults in the state reporting to have gambled in the previous year and 3.8 percent of adults reporting to have a problem.
Additionally, another 7.7 percent are at risk of developing a problem. Taken together, those percentages add up to more than a million people in the state who are at risk or currently dealing with gambling disorder.
Gambling doesn’t always have the same signs as other addictive behaviors. That can make it much harder to recognize and combat the problem. With that in mind, the following paragraphs will outline both national resources and state-based resources for individuals who are dealing with gambling disorder.
Problem gambling organizations and contact information
In the paragraphs below, we’ve outlined the foremost gambling disorder organizations with their contact information for readers. Problem gambling is on the rise nationally and the organizations listed below provide individuals with a means of dealing with gambling disorder in a sustainable and helpful way.
We’ll highlight national organizations like NCPG, Gamblers Anonymous and others before
National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG)
The NCPG may be the most well-known of the gambling disorder organizations as they run a 24-hour confidential national hotline (1-800-522-4700 to call or text, click here to chat). Beyond just the hotline services, the NCPG helps to distribute recovery information, educate federal and local officials on the problems with gambling and create information and resource-focused recovery campaigns.
The NCPG has three classifications for members: state affiliates, corporate affiliates and individual affiliates. To be clear, the NCPG is neither pro-nor anti-gambling but rather, a resource organization designed to help individuals dealing with problem gambling to manage and remedy the issue.
Gamblers Anonymous
Gamblers Anonymous is structured similarly to many other addiction recovery programs like AA or NA. It is designed to bring people together to share stories and thus, provide some catharsis for people dealing with problem gambling. As opposed to other member organizations, Gamblers Anonymous is somewhat decentralized with meetings functioning as an open forum for people to share.
Users can click here for a direct link to resources or call (909) 931-9056.
GamTalk
GamTalk is, comparatively, a newer organization than the others listed above but provides individuals experiencing problems with gambling an easy-to-navigate web of resources and support. The account-based site gives users access to treatment options, emotional support and a live chat function for those in need of immediate assistance.
Additionally, the website hosts dozens of stories from gamblers who have struggled to maintain normalcy in their lives as their disorder begins to consume more and more of their time and finances.
Click here for a link to GamTalk resources.
Self-exclusion and Illinois-specific resources
Beyond just the national resources, there are several state-based resources to deal with problem gambling like the Illinois Council on Problem Gambling, Gambling Help through the IDHS and the problem gambling registry.
While these organizations provide therapy or treatment for users across Illinois, the Prairie State is also one of several states in the country that offers a self-exclusion program. This program allows users to voluntarily exclude themselves from any and all Illinois casinos and sports betting sites. If you self-exclude, you will be prevented from signing up at any sportsbook, by the sportsbook itself. It’s a like a “no-fly” list.
Users can register in person at any sanctioned enrollment site in the state or in Iowa. The process will generally take between 30 and 45 minutes and individuals must bring a valid driver’s license or state ID card to finalize this process.
Here is a list of the Chicago area sites, as well as a list of the self-exclusion sites outside Chicago and in Iowa.
The self-exclusion program is for life and while self-excluded people may requested to be removed after five years, it is very difficult.
Details on operator-based limit setting
In addition to external support agencies and recovery groups, many operators provide limit-setting options to users like deposit restrictions, limits on time played and others.
Beyond just the operator-based restrictions, there are different downloadable programs like BeGambleAware and BetBlocker that users can deploy to help self-regulate.
While sportsbooks and online casinos offer options for self-regulation, it is not in their financial interest to do it for users and thus requires people to take the responsibility of regulation themselves.
Deposit restrictions
A variety of different sportsbooks, including some of the biggest in the country, offer users deposit restrictions, which limit the amount a user can deposit in a certain time frame.
Additionally, many books have deposit maximums that limit the amount of money a user can deposit at one time.
To set a deposit limit, go to the account settings tab on the sportsbook platform and select ‘Deposit limit’.
Time limits
In addition to deposit limits, many sportsbook offer users time limits that restrict the amount of time a user can spend on the platform. These time limits keep users from spending hours wagering and again allow users to decompress from wagering for a brief period.
As with deposit limits, users can set time limits in the account settings tab on the platform.
Betting limits
A betting limit restricts the amount a user can bet within a certain period. Users can set the time period and the amount to their desired limit and the sportsbook will then restrict the user’s betting privileges based on those settings.
While all of these restrictions are helpful in limiting a user’s experience on a specific sportsbook, they are all easy to turn on and off and thus not as ironclad as a self-exclusion list or other permanent restrictions.