CASINO BYPRODUCT: MORE COMPULSIVE GAMBLERS

JEFFERSON CITY -- What's the fastest growing segment of Missouri's population? Officials in the state's Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse don't have to pause a moment before answering this question: compulsive gamblers.

The numbers these officials can cite are alarming: Compulsive gamblers exceed the population of the state's fourth largest city, Independence. And within a relatively short time, Missourians suffering from the illness will be more than the combined populations of Springfield, Columbia and St. Joseph.

Just two years after the state legalized casino gambling, a nationally recognized expert says between 100,000 and 210,000 Missourians have already become compulsive gamblers -- with the number to reach at least 265,000 before leveling off.

The expert, Dr. Joanna Franklin, has been in Missouri conducting seminars for certified problem gambling counselors, under the direction and sponsorship of the alcohol and drug abuse division in the Mental Health Department.

Thirty-four counselors recently were graduated from the first class, with Franklin, a member of the faculty at Johns Hopkins University, directing the curriculum.

She has conducted similar classes in other states with legalized gambling, and while she only held one or two seminars annually when she started 16 years ago, she now conducts six or seven a month.

"It's an indication of the rapid addiction rate among persons who have easy access to gambling enterprises," she said.

Attempting to avoid problems created in other states where professional counseling wasn't readily made available when gambling was inaugurated, the state mental health agency quickly organized a counseling program, similar to those it now administers to alcoholics and drug addicts.

Franklin, noting the need for a statewide program, said, "What we have found in other states, and I'm sure it is true for Missouri, is that the boats attract customers from all over the state, not just the counties where they are located.

"What happens is that you have people with a gambling problem going home to counties that do not have counseling programs to help them," Franklin said.

Because of a unique provision in state law, money can only be spent on programs in the counties where casinos are docked. A measure introduced in this year's session of the General Assembly would open counseling programs throughout the state.

Rich Hayton, a coordinator for the program in the alcohol and drug abuse division, says gambling companies thus far have been cooperative, and under provisions of the gaming law provide the vast bulk of funding for counselor training.

Some $800,000 has been requested for the project for fiscal year 1997, beginning July 1. More than $300,000 is currently appropriated.

Hayton said his agency doesn't "have the same adversarial relationship we have with the alcohol industry." Hayton said, "Owners of these boats want to work with us to stop problems before they develop. They know stories about compulsive gamblers are bad for business."

Despite an early counseling start, Franklin said the problem will only worsen. "In Iowa, the incidence of gamblers with a problem was just 1.7 percent of the population before casinos were approved," she said. Ten years later, the rate of problem gamblers has jumped to 5.3 percent. "You can expect that rate to go up in Missouri," she said.