In Louisiana, lawmakers are debating Senate Bill 290, sponsored by Senate President Page Cortez, which would require mobile sports betting operators to adopt a program similar to one that bans gambling addicts from casinos. The bill would require the state to report self-excluded individuals to mobile sports betting app operators.
The move comes as former state Senator Karen Carter Peterson faces federal investigation related to her gambling addiction and finances. She resigned from the Senate on August 8. Peterson’s addiction was revealed in March 2019 when she received a summons for violating her self-imposed ban from casinos, which made it illegal for her to enter a casino. She said her gambling addiction was “shameful and embarrassing.”
A recent WalletHub study indicated Louisiana ranks as the sixth-most gambling-addicted state, due to legalizing retail and online sports betting in October 2021 in 55 parishes where it was approved by voters. This represented the largest gambling expansion in the state in three decades.
Five years earlier, a 2016 study commissioned by the Louisiana Department of Health’s Office of Behavioral Health estimated up to 280,000 adults may be problem gamblers. It revealed 5.4 percent of Louisiana’s adult population is at risk for addiction and about 2.9 percent are pathological gamblers. Last month, in a talk during Problem Gambling Awareness Month, Louisiana Department of Health Secretary Courtney Phillips said, “Problem gambling touches the lives of all it affects, not just those with a gambling problem, but also their family and friends who want to help them conquer their disorder.”
Louisiana Gaming Commission Chairman Ronnie Johns said in the first five months of legal sports betting, gamblers wagered $628.3 million, generating $7.4 million in tax revenue. He said about 500,000 signed up for mobile betting.
