{"id":30936,"date":"2015-09-02T12:01:42","date_gmt":"2015-09-02T19:01:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=30936"},"modified":"2015-09-02T12:05:37","modified_gmt":"2015-09-02T19:05:37","slug":"colorado-gambling-addiction-program-audit-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colorado-gambling-addiction-program-audit-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado Gambling Addiction Program Audit Shows Only One Gambler Helped in Past Two Years"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Colorado
Lawmakers say that many programs in the Colorado Department of Human Services have suffered under executive director Reggie Bicha. (Image: Craig F. Walker\/Denver Post)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Colorado gambling addiction program<\/a> has apparently been gathering dust, based on a recent audit of the system’s actual usage.<\/p>\n

Most states that allow for legalized gambling, including Colorado, acknowledge that along with the revenue they raise through gaming, there will also be some issues with addiction.<\/p>\n

To that end, programs to minimize those problems and help people who develop problem gambling issues are a big part of any gambling expansion.<\/p>\n

But what happens when the programs designed to help compulsive gamblers aren\u2019t actually doing anything at all?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the problem currently being faced in Colorado, where an audit of the state\u2019s gambling addiction program found that hardly anyone has been helped at all by those efforts. The problems were just the latest found by lawmakers who have grown increasingly concerned with troubling issues inside the state\u2019s Department of Human Services.<\/p>\n

Numbers Show Little Work Being Done in Program<\/h2>\n

The numbers involved with the program are striking. While more than 9,000 people called a national gambling addiction hotline looking for help from Colorado last year, not one person in the state was actually assisted by a corresponding state program designed to counsel problem gamblers.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, only five counselors obtained national accreditation in gambling addiction over the past two years in Colorado. That\u2019s out of 23 counselors who received money from the state to obtain that certification.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething is wrong with the program,\u201d former State Senator Jeanne Nicholson<\/a> (D-Black Hawk), who requested the audit, told the Denver Post<\/em>. \u201cThe purpose was to help people who had gaming addictions that were associated with us legalizing gaming in Colorado. And I don\u2019t think we are accomplishing that.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is not the story of a program that is wasting the state\u2019s coffers: the program, funded by a mixture of taxes, fees, and fines from casinos in the state, has a budget of only about $100,000 per year. However, the way in which that money was being utilized has raised plenty of eyebrows.<\/p>\n

Most Money Spent on Marketing, Administration<\/h2>\n

About 83 percent of all funds allocated to the program in the 2015 fiscal year have been for administrative and marketing expenses, as well as payments to the contractor who was hired to run the program. It\u2019s yet another blight on the record of Department of Human Services Executive Director Reggie Bicha, who has been under increasing scrutiny from lawmakers this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am beyond disappointed in the results of this particular audit,\u201d Bicha said to lawmakers. \u201cAnd extraordinarily discouraged by the work of our Office of Behavioral Health in implementing this program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s gaming revenues have remained relatively flat in recent years, with the state\u2019s casinos bringing in $745.9 million in 2014. That was virtually the same as the year prior, though taxes collected by the state increased by 2.5 percent to $106 million thanks to gains at larger casinos.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But that revenue comes at a cost, says State Representative Dianne Primavera (D-Broomfield), one that the state needs to take seriously.<\/p>\n

\u201cGambling addiction is one of the worst addictions you can have because it leads to crime and job loss and people\u2019s houses going into foreclosure and domestic violence and drinking and other kinds of addictions,\u201d she said. \u201cThis isn\u2019t the kind of addiction that we should brush aside.\u201d<\/p>\n

The audit into Colorado\u2019s problem gambling services found numerous problems dating back years. In 2011, the state began paying the University of Denver about $65,000 a year in order to let psychology students offer counseling services, which was not in compliance with state law. And while those students counseled 116 people over the course of three years, only one person has received help through accredited counselors in 2014 and 2015 combined.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Colorado gambling addiction program has apparently been gathering dust, based on a recent audit of the system’s actual usage. Most states that allow for legalized gambling, including Colorado, acknowledge that along with the revenue they raise through gaming, there will also be some issues with addiction. To that end, programs to minimize those problems […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":30943,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,18],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nColorado Gambling Addiction Program Audit Shows Only One Gambler Helped in Past Two Years<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Colorado Gambling Addiction Program audit showed that the program designed to help problem gamblers only has helped one person in the past two years.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Colorado Gambling Addiction Program Audit Shows Only One Gambler Helped in Past Two Years\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Colorado Gambling Addiction Program audit showed that the program designed to help problem gamblers only has helped one person in the past two years.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colorado-gambling-addiction-program-audit-failure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-09-02T19:01:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-09-02T19:05:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Colorado-Human-Services-director-Reggie-Bicha-gambling-program-audit.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"654\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"434\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Casino.org Staff Writer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colorado-gambling-addiction-program-audit-failure\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colorado-gambling-addiction-program-audit-failure\/\",\"name\":\"Colorado Gambling Addiction Program Audit Shows Only One Gambler Helped in Past Two Years\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colorado-gambling-addiction-program-audit-failure\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colorado-gambling-addiction-program-audit-failure\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Colorado-Human-Services-director-Reggie-Bicha-gambling-program-audit.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-09-02T19:01:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-09-02T19:05:37+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/8c48bf89dc86da77b4d856c7b3b78d77\"},\"description\":\"A Colorado Gambling Addiction Program audit showed that the program designed to help problem gamblers only has helped one person in the past two years.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colorado-gambling-addiction-program-audit-failure\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colorado-gambling-addiction-program-audit-failure\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/colorado-gambling-addiction-program-audit-failure\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Colorado-Human-Services-director-Reggie-Bicha-gambling-program-audit.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/Colorado-Human-Services-director-Reggie-Bicha-gambling-program-audit.jpg\",\"width\":654,\"height\":434,\"caption\":\"Lawmakers say that many programs in the Colorado Department of Human Services have suffered under executive director Reggie Bicha. 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