California appropriates $3.33 per gambling addict

REGION: New program offers free help for gambling addicts Local therapists are available to help gamblers, family members By EDWARD SIFUENTES A new state program offers treatment for gambling addicts, and it's free. Last month, the state's Office of Problem Gambling and the Gambling Studies Program at UCLA launched a program that offers problem gamblers and their family members eight counseling sessions with a state-licensed therapist at no cost. "It's a godsend," said Suzanne Graupner Pike, a psychologist who treats gambling addicts in North County. "I didn't think I'd live long enough to see this." Problem gamblers often lose their money and jobs through their addiction, Graupner Pike said. They often lose their health insurance, and some insurance programs don't pay for gambling addiction treatment. That is why state-funded treatment is critical to deal with the problem, she said. North County has five casinos: at the Pauma, Pala, Rincon, San Pasqual and Santa Ysabel Indian reservations. The Pechanga tribe in Temecula owns one of the largest casinos in the state. The $4 million program is funded through the Indian Gaming Special Distribution Fund, a pot of money that gambling tribes pay to the state for various purposes, including gambling addiction programs, said Terri Due Canale, deputy director of the state's Office of Problem Gambling. California has as many as 1.2 million compulsive gamblers, according to a state study. A 2006 report by the California Research Bureau estimated that pathological gambling costs the state $1 billion, largely in costs related to crime, bankruptcy and public health services. Canale said it took a long time to set up the treatment program because the Office of Problem Gambling didn't exist until 2003. The office started offering gambling prevention programs soon after it was created and then had to ask the Legislature for funding to develop a treatment program. "It just took time getting up and running," Canale said. Last year, the state ---- in partnership with the UCLA-based Gambling Studies Program ---- began training therapists and offering them contracts to treat gambling addicts. Thus far, about 20 therapists are enrolled in the program statewide, including two in Escondido and two in San Diego. None is based in Southwest Riverside County, but Canale said the state offers several options there, including counseling sessions via phone, brief interventions and residential treatment. Graupner Pike, whose practice is in Escondido, is a supervisor in the one-on-one counseling program. Thus far, 65 patients are enrolled in the program statewide, Canale said. However, officials say they hope to treat as many as 3,900 people a year.