New Mexico doing little to fight gambling addiction
State government is the big winner when it comes to gambling in New Mexico. It raked in more than $156 million in the last budget year from the New Mexico Lottery, horse racing and slot machines at tribal casinos, racetracks, and veterans and fraternal clubs.
But when it comes to preventing and treating problem gambling — one of the aftershocks of widespread wagering in New Mexico — the Legislature and governor have been unwilling to put much money on the table.
In the last budget year, which ended June 30, the state earmarked just $70,250 to specifically address problem gambling. All that money came from the lottery and went to the nonprofit New Mexico Council on Problem Gambling, which operates a telephone hotline and provides free counseling.
The $70,250 amounted to a fraction of 1 percent of the money the state took in last budget year in lottery profits, revenue sharing from tribal casinos and gambling taxes. By comparison, gaming tribes and racetracks were required to spend $2.3 million to combat problem gambling in the last budget year.
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