The District of Columbia Tuesday became the first legal U.S. sports betting jurisdiction to eliminate existing problem gambling funding when the DC Council’s Committee of the Whole unanimously voted to approve the FY 2024 budget, which removes the $200,000 annual allocation to the Department of Behavioral Health (DBH) for preventing, treating, and researching gambling addiction.
Despite the funding being included in the District’s sports betting law, which passed in 2019, the Department of Behavioral Health told the DC Council earlier this year that it had not spent previous funds and did not need them going forward.
Responsible and problem gambling advocates fear that the elimination of the funding, which they have fought for in virtually every legal U.S. jurisdiction, could have a domino effect.
