Iowa Plans Cuts to Addictive Gambling Program
Like many states, Iowa is working its way through a budget crunch, but one of its solutions has ruffled some feathers. The decision to cut in half funds for the state's gambling treatment program has left some questioning the wisdom of the move.
Currently, four million dollars annually are allocated to a program for problem gamblers. However, the Iowa Senate voted this week to remove half that money in order to fund programs for other addictions, including alcohol, drugs, and cigarettes.
Kate Cutler, chairman of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, has come out against the move. She believes the current level of funding for gambling treatment is the minimum acceptable, and other sources need to be found to cover the costs of the other programs.
Cutler also pointed out that gambling revenues were the source for the money allocated to gambling treatment, and that, if anything, the amount needs to be raised, not lowered.
The state House has yet to consider the redistribution of the funds, and Cutler's stand may prevent the budgetary change. One would think that the enormous taxation put on liquor and cigarettes could pay for programs related to those addictions. Even drugs, which as an illegal substance does not generate tax revenue, does take in income in civil forfeitures and seizures, a quite lucrative trade that could easily pay for drug treatment.
The hypocrisy of freezing gambling licenses until studies of the deleterious effects of gambling are complete, as has been done in Iowa, only to remove monies generated by gambling to treat addictive gambling is a move only a politician could relish.
