Gaming rooms spreading gambling woes for many

Low-income people are filling the local gaming rooms and they are suffering the same way chronic gamblers are at any casino, according to those who counsel them.

The type of gambling is called convenience gambling. Many are worried about the growing number of accessible gambling locations throughout Florida's cities and suburbs.

Gaming rooms are cropping up in various places across Hernando County because there has been a demand coming from those who are most vulnerable, said Brian Kongsvik, of the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling (FCCG).

Kongsvik is the director of HelpLine operations for the Winter Haven-based agency.

"There is debt, depression and other emotional problems felt by these gamblers," he said. "There are illegal acts being committed (by victims) such as writing bad checks, larceny and even embezzlement by these gamblers."

The problems are growing worse because new gambling businesses keep opening, said Kongsvik.

Gaming rooms, or Internet cafes, are the fifth most popular gambling locations. They rank behind land-based casinos, convenience stores for lottery tickets, racetracks and Internet gambling, according to the FCCG.

Gaming rooms are emerging fast on the list. Already they rank ahead of boat casinos, bookies and bingo halls, Kongsvik said.

"It is important to note that these people may not normally frequent a true casino due to traveling distance or financial restraints, but these centers are located in neighborhoods, down the street, in strip malls, next to the grocery store or the local Laundromat," said Kongsvik. "It is gambling in its purest sense, and it is affecting Floridians at a very rapid rate."

Through the 2009-10 fiscal year, the FCCG help line responded to more than 16,000 calls, with about 5,000 callers seeking help and information about gambling addiction, according to an agency media statement released Monday.

The numbers, according to Executive Director Pat Fowler, show a 12 percent increase in calls during the past year. Calls were received from 60 out of Florida's 67 counties.

Kongsvik said the help line has received an increased number of calls from Hernando County, but didn't know a specific number.

Fowler wrote in her media statement the FCCG had expected an increase in callers in South Florida where there are a number of legalized pari-mutuels. However, slot and electronic gaming machines in other areas of the state have become a noticeably bigger problem, she said.

"(The) more recent jump in problems with this type of gambling in other regions appears to be due to the gray-area gambling establishments such as Internet sweepstakes centers located in more rural areas of the state and in local neighborhood strip centers," said Fowler.

Dina P., a trustee with West Central Florida Gamblers Anonymous, said she has noticed little fluctuation in the meeting attendance.

A recovering gambler herself, Dina P. said every area is different, but locally, more people are becoming aware of the help that is being offered by her organization and others like it.

Gamblers Anonymous volunteers do not give out their last names.

"It pretty much stays steady," Dina P. said of the turnout at meetings. "We get new gamblers in the room all the time."

FCCG isn't reporting steady numbers. Last year was a busy year for the agency.

Roughly 22 percent of gamblers seeking assistance from the help line during the last fiscal year were seniors, with the number of senior female callers outnumbering male callers by a 2-1 ratio.

Nearly one-third of the gamblers claimed to have lost $90,000 or more due to their addiction, Fowler said.

Additionally, one in seven earned an income below poverty level, while more than 20 percent of gamblers who called the help line were unemployed or on disability, according to FCCG.

Kongsvik has complained gaming rooms have no pamphlets, posters or flyers anywhere that give compulsive gamblers information on where to find help. Such information is in plain view at horse tracks and casinos.

He thinks that is another reason to be leery of the neighborhood gambling halls.

"It's causing serious damage," Kongsvik said of gaming rooms. "We're strongly opposed to this kind of gambling."