Questions about funding

The lengthy article [excerpts below] about state funding for Gambling Addiction raises interesting questions about the need to assure appropriate statutory and regulatory safeguards to guarantee public credibility and confidence.

In their Slap-Dash Rush, Beacon Hill failed, in spite of empty promises of 'we'll get it right,' secret meetings produced flawed legislation crafted by Industry that excluded the media and the public [from SHNS]:

ERRATA CORRECTED MISTAKES IN GAMBLING BILL

On Monday morning, two days
after the gambling bill passed the House and Senate, the Legislature's website
featured an error-riddled draft of the proposal, with no corrected version.

The six lawmakers who negotiated the compromise gambling bill signed off
Sunday on 17 pages worth of changes to the bill, including some that erase
sections of the bill and another that revises the formula used to distribute the
states' gambling proceeds. The corrections, obtained by the News Service, also
strike a section that requires gambling license applications to be public
records.

As of Monday morning, the Legislature's website included the
lengthy lists of corrections, known as "errata," but lawmakers were denied the
chance at an explanation before the bills passed, and the effects of the changes
remain unclear.

Delaware Council on Gambling's deals spur
questions
Ex-official: Delaware money misspent
on out-of-staters

The Delaware Council on Gambling Problems, which has
received millions of dollars of state revenue in no-bid contracts, is facing
allegations that it mishandles money it receives to help problem gamblers in
Delaware.

With state money underwriting its staff and office, leaders of
the nonprofit agency have struck side deals with Montana and the District of
Columbia to handle calls made to their gambling help lines. The agency also
fields calls from Maryland at no charge.
THE CALLS

A total of 9,381
calls were answered by the Delaware Council on Gambling Problems in fiscal 2009.
Only 774 were from problem gamblers:


From Delaware


7,573
calls (80.73% of total)


580 from problem gamblers


From
Washington


1,395 calls (14.87% of total)


28 from problem
gamblers


From Montana


413 calls (4.40% of total)


166 from problem gamblers


Note: A majority of the phone
calls the council receives are nuisance calls -- such as people asking for the
winning Powerball number -- and are not calls from problem gamblers seeking
help.