ABINGDON, Va. — Virginia’s problem gambling helpline received nearly 16,000 calls during 2024, a 49% increase over the prior year, and one of the major influences was illegal internet gaming.
The helpline, operated by the Virginia Council on Problem Gambling, receives calls from across Virginia, organization President Carolyn Hawley told the Bristol Herald Courier. She was the keynote speaker during the recent conference on problem gambling at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center — the only such event in the Commonwealth.
“With our smart phones we have a casino in our hands all the time,” Hawley said. “Our most popular form of gambling was internet gambling, which is non-sports … That was our No. 1 problem from people calling the helpline for 2024. That is a big shift, and that’s illegal in Virginia.”
Calls about people getting into financial straits through illegal, internet non-sports gaming represented about one in four calls to help line. People playing slots at casinos, other casino gaming and online sports wagering were each over 20%, according to the council’s annual report.
Calls regarding the lottery were about 6%, while skill games, table games and the stock market each represented less than 5%.
The explosion in calls represents a double-edged sword.
“We continue to grow as far as people calling the help line. It’s good there’s more awareness,” Hawley said. “With the expansion in gambling we’re seeing far more people developing problems. We need to do more on prevention, education and awareness so people don’t have to call the help line.”
Three casinos currently operate legally in Virginia. Rivers Casino Portsmouth was the only permanent casino in operation throughout the past year. Hard Rock Bristol replaced the temporary Bristol Casino in mid-November 2024 and the Caesars Virginia Casino opened in December, replacing a temporary Danville facility.
Helpline callers were from across the state, with 25% from northern Virginia, 24% from the central part of the state, 17% from Hampton Roads, 15% from eastern Virginia, 5% each from southside and west central, compared to 2% from Southwest Virginia, according to the report.
Of the callers, 69% were men and 49% were between the ages of 25 and 44.
Nearly eight in 10 callers self-reported they had some problem, whether it was spending all their extra money, being late on paying bills, spending their savings, borrowing from friends or family or racking up credit card debt while gambling.
This marked the second year for the problem gambling conference, which is primarily geared to people in the support industry, according to Willard Robertson, problem gambling support specialist of Highlands Community Services in Abingdon.
“An event like this focuses more on professionals who are in recovery treatment and prevention work,” Robertson said. “This is one of the most effective ways to get the word out in Southwest Virginia. Folks are already working in addiction or the field of recovery, treatment and prevention – then getting them this great slate of presentations and letting that trickle down to how they work with their consumers.”
Robertson said event organizers are working to raise awareness and letting people know it’s OK to seek help.
“One of the biggest shifts for us in Southwest Virginia is the Virginia Partnership for Gaming and Health has created an intake process that occurs regionally,” he said. “If someone calls the hotlines and goes through the steps for an intake, we have someone in Bristol who handles that for Southwest Virginia. That person is equipped to work with consumers who identify with a gambling problem and connect them with resources that are available.
“Resources regionally are still limited but part of our purpose is to encourage more therapists work toward gaining gain knowledge in behavioral addiction. Often that will go hand-in-hand with people they’re already seeing for substance abuse disorder,” Robertson said.
As more people seek assistance, Hawley frets that program funding is insufficient to meet the needs.
Legislation which allowed casinos to operate dedicates 0.8% of tax revenues coming to the state to support problem gambling initiatives and education.
For example, during February the state’s three casinos reported a combined single month record of over $75 million adjusted gaming revenues [wagers minus winnings]. The state received $13.5 million in taxes, returning $4.5 million to host localities, putting $8.8 million into state coffers while allocating $108,200 to problem gambling treatment and support.
“We’re looking at record-setting numbers with casino revenue and sports betting. It’s probably across all our different gambling operators we’re seeing record numbers,” Hawley said. “When you look at how much money is going into the problem gambling treatment and support fund, it was $100,000 [from casinos in February] for servicing the entire state from prevention and education to treatment and recovery. We need more balance so we can better take care of Virginians.”
The treatment and support fund received just over $1.11 million from casino revenues for the 12 months of 2024, according to the Virginia Lottery.
Similarly, legislation which allowed sports betting in Virginia, allocates 2.5% of tax revenues coming to the state for problem gambling treatment and education.
During January 2024, sports betting operators reported nearly $81 million in adjusted gaming revenue off $736 million gross revenues. The generated $12.1 million for Virginia, with $11.83 million going to the state’s general fund and $303,400 dedicated to problem gambling support.
The treatment and support fund received just over $2.3 million from sports betting tax revenues during 2024, lottery figures show.
“With the problem gambling treatment support fund, we actually do have some resources for providing treatment and recovery services. However, as we’re seeing that increase in people needing support, we have increases we need to better serve,” she said.
She estimates monies received is about half what is needed to provide statewide support, saying $7 million to $8 million annually is needed.
“We need to look beyond just casinos and sports to be contributing to that fund as well,” Hawley said. “We’re doing the best we can. We’re doing remarkably well given the limited resources we have.”
The council supports a previous Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission study that recommends establishing a single state division to oversee all gambling in Virginia. Legislation to create that failed during the last General Assembly session.
“I think having a more central unit to oversee all the types of gambling operations, having a more uniform system in place and for them to have their hands on responsible gambling and problem gambling would be beneficial,” Hawley said.