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The Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Programs (BDAP), Gambling Addiction Program, is responsible in the development of programs related to providing services to the citizens of Pennsylvania who are experiencing problems with compulsive gambling. Act 71 of 2004, calls for the formation of a program that would include a provision of clinical persons who are trained and certified to provide gambling counseling services to compulsive and problem gamblers.
VIEW GAMBLING TREAMENT PROVIDERS
Legalized gambling is one of the fastest growing industries in the United States. Gambling's tremendous popularity is evident in the recent increase in the number of off-track-betting parlors (OTBs) and riverboat casinos that dot the Midwest and the Mississippi Delta. Billboards on major highways depict the action and excitement available at such facilities.
For most of the industry's patrons, gambling is fun and a form of harmless entertainment. For the four to six percent of gamblers who become problem or pathological (compulsive) gamblers, however, it can be a devastating illness that negatively affects every aspect of their lives.
Who is affected?
Current estimates suggest that three percent of the adult population will experience a serious problem with gambling that will result in significant debt, family disruption, job losses, criminal activity or suicide.
Pathological gambling affects the gamblers, their families, their employers and the community. As the gamblers go through the phases of their addiction, they spend less time with their family and spend more of their family's money on gambling until their bank accounts are depleted. Then they may steal money from family members.
At work, the pathological gambler misuses time in order to gamble, has difficulty concentrating and finishing projects and may engage in embezzlement, employee theft or other illegal activities.
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