Sports betting has been legal in Kentucky since 2023, but the move comes with a price tag. Or rather, the move comes with a safety tag. Kentucky is now in position to catch up with surrounding states that already legalized sports betting, but that means the state will also need to support a new state fund for problem gamblers with a portion of state tax dollars.
The fund is called The Problem Gambling Assistance Fund. Money can be distributed either to create public awareness of the problem, or to train health workers. Lisa Lee Williams, the Chief of Staff for the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, wrote: “Before issuing contracts for any projects, we needed to assess the available funding for the year.”
Funding opportunities will remain open for applications through June 2025
Unfortunately, all applications thus far have been to create public awareness of the problem, but no applications have yet to come through to train health workers. Funding opportunities will remain open for applications through June 2025.
One place considering applying for healthcare training is the Kentucky Council on Problem Gambling. According to Louisville Public Media, the organization’s executive director Mike Stone “told LPM News that the group wants to use those to support its annual education and awareness conference, scheduled for March in Florence.” Par for the course, but Stone added that “KYCPG is looking into submitting other funding proposals for counselor training and public awareness efforts.”
Applications for either purpose come at a must-needed time. As sports betting has become legalized in Kentucky, so too have addictive gambling behaviors gone on the rise throughout the state. According to Gerrimy Keiffer, who works at RiverValley Behavioral Health where Kentucky-based calls for 1-800-GAMBLER are answered, calls about problem gambling have consistently risen since sports gambling became legal.
According to RonSonlyn Clark, KYCPG’s president and a licensed gambling counselor, not only has problem gambling been on the rise, but the demographics have shifted from older people to “primarily younger men.”
Clark is interested in helping problem gamblers pivot from addictive struggles to addictive solutions, particularly when it comes to training specialists to help other problem gamblers still struggling. She plans to utilize people who previously struggled with problem gambling to help those who are taking their first steps out of the hole of addiction.