A booming business in betting across the US has led to increased concerns about problematic gambling.
Generally, legal and licensed casinos and sportsbook ads have a disclaimer that gambling should be for entertainment. Small prints say, “Gambling issues? Call 1-800-Gambler.”
That number is as memorable as you can get. And it prompted a brief but fierce legal battle over those with the right or moral order to run the closest to the nation’s gambling hotline.
The National Council of Issues (NCPG) has been operating the helpline since 2022 and leases it for $150,000 a year from the Council of Forced Gambling (CCGNJ) in New Jersey, which has been operating since 1983.
According to the NCPG, monthly call traffic increased by 34%, media mentions increased by over 5,000%, resulting in a third of Americans who recognize 1-800 gumblers as national hotlines, according to the NCPG.
With this, CCGNJ wants to get that number back.
The agreement between the two groups ends on Tuesday. The National Group has informed the New Jersey Group of its intention to exercise its right to renew and extend it for another five years. CCGNJ refused.
“It’s our property,” CCGNJ executive director Louis Del Orbe told CNBC. The group also owns 800gambler.org.
The National Council sued for emergency stays this summer to prevent the New Jersey legislature from regaining its operations, claiming that local groups do not have staff resources or run a hotline on a 24-hour basis.
NCPG has received significant financial support from the NFL and is over $12 million over six years – and a leading sportsbook operator. The council is spending $1.5 million a year providing infrastructure and connectivity to callers in ten states and acting as a kind of call-in-way station for dozens of other jurisdictions.
National Council lawyers argued that reclaiming it under New Jersey’s operations would have devastating consequences.
“Thousands of individuals and families were able to suddenly find themselves without access to the only national lifeline for problematic gambling,” said Amanda Schmook, lawyer for Offit Carman.
New Jersey organization Del Orbe said his staff are preparing for an increase in calls. When calls come out outside of business hours, they are transferred to a 24-hour Louisiana call center. This is the same as serving many states and local jurisdictions via 1-800 gumblers.
Del Obe told CNBC that his organization felt that the NCPG would “weaponize numbers” and requested data on issues gambling from local councils and threatened to ban them from the hotline if they refused.
NCPG collects and analyzes data from problematic gambling calls to explain the risks of betting dependence. However, not all states using 1-800-Gambler share statistics with the National Council.
The National Council said, “Despite repeated outreach and consultations, training and scholarship offers, two state legislatures refused to participate, one unable to meet the requirements.” It said it began re-routing calls from those states to Louisiana’s call centers.
“Our biggest fear is that people who are in crisis can pick up their phones, text them, and find no one on the other side,” said Jaime Costello, program director at NCPG.
In a statement to CNBC, the NFL said, “Under the NCPG’s stewardship, 1-800-GAMBLER has been transformed into a pivotal national resource. Anyone can get quality care when they need it.
On Monday, the New Jersey Supreme Court denied the NCPG’s request for emergency stay. This is the final ditch effort to ensure numbers don’t return to local councils.
The National Gambling Council for Issues has said for now it will return to using that old number 1-800-522-4700.
