With no signs that it’s a significant problem in the area, Park County commissioners turned down tens of thousands of dollars offered by the Wyoming Department of Health to address problem gambling.
On Tuesday, the board voted unanimously and without discussion to decline as much as $32,141.30 in state funds.
“The gambling thing just did not appear — to our knowledge or the people that we checked with — to be an issue in Park County,” Commission Chair Dossie Overfield explained after the vote.
Wyoming lawmakers legalized online sports betting in 2021, requiring operators to pay 10% of their revenues to the state. The first $300,000 the state collects each year is given to the Department of Health, which forwards the money to county health programs to “prevent and treat problematic gambling behavior.”
