Legal Sports Betting is About to Sweep the Nation. Services for Gambling Addicts Probably Won’t.

Oklahoma’s 128 tribal casinos host 46 million visits and rake in $4.5 billion a year – but there isn’t a single billboard in the state that tells problem gamblers where they can find help.

“We can’t afford it. It costs $1,200 to $1,400 a month for a billboard,” said Wiley D. Harwell, executive director of the Oklahoma Association for Problem and Compulsive Gambling.

With $186,000 from the state and about $100,000 from Indian tribes and other donations annually, Harwell’s group operates a hotline, trains counselors and gives public education talks. Billboards won’t fit into the budget – which might explain why the hotline received just 1,020 calls in 2016, even though an estimated 65,000 Oklahoma adults have a gambling problem.

Overall, the Sooner State dedicates $1 million a year – 25 cents per capita – to help problem gamblers. The national average, among the 40 states that spend anything at all, is 37 cents per capita.

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