Oklahoma’s 128 tribal casinos host 46 million visits and rake in $4.5 billion a year – but there isn’t a single billboard in the state that tells problem gamblers where they can find help.
“We can’t afford it. It costs $1,200 to $1,400 a month for a billboard,” said Wiley D. Harwell, executive director of the Oklahoma Association for Problem and Compulsive Gambling.
With $186,000 from the state and about $100,000 from Indian tribes and other donations annually, Harwell’s group operates a hotline, trains counselors and gives public education talks. Billboards won’t fit into the budget – which might explain why the hotline received just 1,020 calls in 2016, even though an estimated 65,000 Oklahoma adults have a gambling problem.
[For more on this story by Marsha Mercer, go to http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/re...ddicts-probably-wont]
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