States Spend $75 Per Problem Gambler vs. $919 for Substance Abuse, Study Finds

New research reveals that state funding for problem gambling drastically lags behind allocations for substance use disorders. A stock photograph shows a young man in therapy. New research suggests states aren’t adequately funding programs to help problem gamblers. (Image: Shutterstock) The National Association of Administrators for Disordered Gambling Services (NAADGS) reports in its annual study—Problem Gambling Services in the United States—that while funding for problem gambling services continues to expand, public investment remains woefully inadequate. The NAADGS, an organization dedicated to enhancing federal and state efforts to address gambling harm, reported that state funding for problem gambling rose from $94 million in FY2021 to $188 million in FY2025. But roughly $43 million that was supposed to go to problem gambling services went elsewhere. The NAADGS said the funding discrepancies were due to various factors, such as procurement delays, contracting timelines, workforce shortages, and program start-up activities. The unspent expenditures were not because of reductions in need. In total, 43 states fund problem gambling programs, with the outliers being Alaska, Alabama, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Texas, Utah, and the District of Columbia. $75 Fix for Problem Gambling? According to the NAADGS, a small group of states accounts for a disproportionate share of the overall funding increase, led by Massachusetts, which spends more than three times as much on problem gambling services as any other state. The gap between the average and median allocation suggests that a relatively small number of states account for a disproportionate share of total funding. In fact, the five highest-funded states account for approximately half of all problem gambling funding nationwide,” the study reported. With $188 million in nationwide state funding for an estimated 2.5 million people struggling with a gambling disorder, the NAADGS calculates that states spend just $75 per problem gambler. By comparison, states spent $44.5 billion on substance use disorders in FY2025—equating to $919 for each of the estimated 48.5 million people affected. Derek Longmeier, board president of the National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG), says the findings “should alarm anyone who cares about how the United States responds to gambling-related harm.” “NCPG believes it is time to stop treating problem gambling as a stand-alone line item and start treating it as what it is: a behavioral health condition that deserves the same integrated response we’ve built, however imperfectly, for substance use disorders,” Longmeier said. The NCPG is calling on gambling harm prevention to be implemented in public education, for health care providers to include problem gambling in routine screenings, and for the country to build a credentialed provider network. Impending Crisis? Some health officials believe the US will soon feel the harms of its vast embrace of betting, which, along with sports betting, has expanded in recent years to include iGaming, online sweepstakes casinos, and innovative prediction markets that allow traders to risk money on an array of event outcomes. In May, Dr. Nora Volkow, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), told a House committee that the gambling crisis is deepening, especially among teenagers. And in August, former US Surgeon General Jerome Adams said sports betting is the “new opioid crisis.” The post States Spend $75 Per Problem Gambler vs. $919 for Substance Abuse, Study Finds appeared first on Casino.org.