Cuyahoga County has decided to be proactive with regards to problem gambling. The Ohio county, which includes the city of Cleveland, has plans to roll out the first gambling addiction court program. Officials are calling it the Problem Gambling Addiction Program (PGAP).
Legalized sports betting makes its debut in Ohio in January, but the common pleas court wasted no time in setting up the addiction court program.
At a press conference last week, Karen Russo, the director of responsible gambling for the Ohio Lottery and now part of the PGAP, said the goal is to get the program in place before the start of the year.
“Calls to the problem gambling hotline have already increased 32 percent for sports betting alone,” Russo said, “and it’s not even legal yet.”
According to Play It Safe Ohio, approximately 220,000 Ohioans engage in at-risk gambling and 30,000 engage in problem gambling behaviors.
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Brendan Sheehan, who will oversee the program, said this won’t be a specialized docket but instead a referral program.
“The goal is to break the cycle of addiction and to minimize the chance that they will return to the criminal justice systems,” Sheehan said.
How the program works is participants can be referred at any time during the criminal justice process or by the judge presiding over their case. Sheehan said participants have an incentive to join and complete the program.
“If a person successfully completes this program – you’re in this program, you’ve successfully completed this program – their felony charges may be dismissed to avoid felony convictions on their record,” Sheehan said.
Russo said many crimes are committed to fund gambling addiction and include embezzlement, aggravated assault, domestic violence, and fraud.
The court will begin screening potential participants starting October 17. The program will be the largest of its kind in the country, officials said.
