The Arkansas Problem Gambling Council is seeking proposals from providers of educational and treatment services for residents with gambling disorders−more than three and a half years after a constitutional amendment passed requiring the state to direct at least $200,000 annually to problem gambling services.
Vena Schexnayder, the council’s board chairman, said serving the entire state with $200,000 to provide problem-gambling treatment and educational programs will be challenging. “Two hundred thousand dollars could literally go just for Pulaski County but we are going to be creative and get it done.”
The council plans to contract with four behavioral health agencies in the state and an out-of-state behavioral health treatment provider through the National Council on Problem Gambling, Schexnayder said.
Currently, the Arkansas Scholarship Lottery pays about $20,000 a year to the Louisiana Association on Compulsive Gambling to answer calls to the Arkansas Problem Gambling Helpline and to receive monthly reports about the calls, said Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the state Department of Finance and Administration. He said in fiscal year 2021, which ended June 30, a total of 4,634 calls were received from Arkansas.
Forty-one states and Washington, D.C., provide funds toward problem-gambling services as of 2021.
