Gambling addiction group backtracks on email

Sunday, June 1, 2014

A pair of email blasts from an agency that helps gambling addicts — which is in line to receive a piece of the $5 million Bay State casinos will be assessed to pay for treatment — is raising questions about political interference after the group’s director apologized for one missive on how to assist the effort to repeal the state’s casino law.

The Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling sent an email last week suggesting repeal supporters collect signatures and join phone banks. The email includes contact information for the repeal committee — which sent the council the information contained in the email — and suggests contacting the Department of Public Health and Gaming Commission with concerns.

The next day, council director Marlene Warner sent another email stating the initial message “did not clearly identify the content as coming from a 3rd party.”

“The subject line and content do not reflect the position, mission, or vision of the Council,” wrote Warner.

“We don’t advocate for or against legalized gambling. But we do unapologetically act as a conduit for information, whether it is scientific, popular, advocacy, or programmatic in nature, to be passed on to those who need it, however they approach it.”

Repeal committee chairman John Ribeiro questioned if the council was pressured to send the second email, and expressed concerns that the group took pains to point out it is not opposed to casinos.

“It makes no sense to reasonable people that a group dedicated to helping compulsive gamblers — and its funders at the Department of Public Health — wouldn’t be opposed to casinos,” Ribeiro said.

Warner could not be reached for comment. Keith Whyte, director of the National Council on Problem Gambling, said he did not know if the Bay State chapter was pressured to issue a clarification, but said he raised a red flag about the initial email, which he called “an error by staff.”

“The way it was worded, you could read it to look like it was the council stating like that they opposed the casino (law) … For 42 years, we’ve been neutral on legalized gambling,” Whyte said.

Under the state’s gaming law, the Massachusetts Council on Compulsive Gambling is expected to receive part of $5 million in annually assessed fees on licensed casinos. The money is to pay “for the costs of service and public health programs dedicated to addressing problems associated with compulsive gambling or other addiction services.”

Gaming Commission spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll said the council’s email was “an administrative error.”

“We value the mission of the council, we’ve been working very closely with them since our inception,” Driscoll said. “It’s our understanding the email was sent out in error, and we appreciate that they sought to quickly rectify that error.”


http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2014/05/gambling_addiction_group_backtracks_on_email