Inside Illinois’ Gambling Problem

**Mary Dixon** (0:10)
Hello, Chicago, I'm Mary Dixon. I'm in for Sasha Ann Simons, and this is In the Loop.
Stick around to the very end of the episode to get a roundup of the day's top headlines in and around Chicago. But first, people in Illinois can play slots, buy lottery tickets, and bet on sports, which is lucrative for the state. Last year, Illinois pulled in more than two and a half billion dollars in tax revenues. But the Illinois Answers Project reports residents themselves aren't necessarily winning. Just last year, gamers lost nearly eight billion dollars. So, why is this happening? Are there enough guardrails in place? Who's losing their shirt in this gambling game?
At the table, we have Elizabeth Thielen, Senior Director at Nicasa. It's a behavioral health services organization specializing in gambling addiction services, and Casey Toner, reporter for the Illinois Answers Project. Casey kicked us off by laying out the kinds of gaming that Illinois adults can engage in.

**Casey Toner** (1:19)
We're talking about the lottery. We're talking about casinos. We're talking about slot machines. And most recently, we've been talking about sports gambling.

**Mary Dixon** (1:30)
So Sportsbook has become more legalized in the state of Illinois in the last few years. You can do it on your phone. It's very easy. And in your reporting last year, Illinoisans lost, not just spent, but lost $7.7 billion, nearly $8 billion in gambling. That's about half of the budget for the city of Chicago. So that's a lot of paychecks to be handing over, no?

**Casey Toner** (1:56)
Yes, that's a lot of money. And it wasn't always like this. And that's what I think is really interesting.
I was nine years old when the first Riverboat Casino left the shores of Illinois. Now there are 17 casinos. There are 50,000 slot machines. And thanks to bipartisan legislation signed by JB. Pritzker, there is now sports gambling, which puts the casino in people's pockets.

**Mary Dixon** (2:21)
Yeah, and Elizabeth, I want to ask you now, especially with the addition of Sportsbook, you know, gaming on your phone, have you seen more people asking for help with gaming addiction at your organization?

**Elizabeth Thielen** (2:34)
Absolutely. We've seen people coming in at an elevated rate for online sports betting and other forms of online gambling. And we're also seeing an alarming trend of the age trending much younger. So whereas we had people in their 40s, 50s, 30s coming in for services, now it's 30s, 20s, and even teens.

**Mary Dixon** (2:54)
I mean, so then you're talking about teenagers who, you know, probably don't have jobs to at least replenish their resources. And they need to lean on mom and dad, you know, if mom and dad know about it.

**Elizabeth Thielen** (3:08)
Absolutely. And it's something that's really not on people's radar. I know, you know, parents and school administrators are concerned about substance use, escaping, all of that, and gambling is not on the radar, but it needs to be, because it's happening in the classrooms, in the locker rooms, in colleges and dorms, all of that.

**Mary Dixon** (3:25)
Casey, why would you say that gambling is on the rise?

**Casey Toner** (3:30)
It's on the rise because the state of Illinois has legalized it. And in many ways, I think they've cleared the path for gambling companies to operate.
And the gambling companies are taking advantage of that. And right now, there are technologies that are available that did not exist 100 years ago. There are algorithms. You know, there's the gamification of everything, really, that I think is just leading to more people placing bets. And again, you just couldn't do this stuff legally, you know, 30 years ago.

**Mary Dixon** (4:03)
When you talk about the gamification of gambling, that, of course, reminds me of the prediction markets like Tulsi and, was it, Polymarket? Like, where you're betting on almost anything in the world, which is not necessarily legal in Illinois, and there is some pushback against their sports betting on those prediction markets, but actual sports gaming is legal here now.

**Casey Toner** (4:29)
Yes, actual sports betting is legal, and you can do it from your phone.
And this presents a lot of challenges for people, especially people who are problem gamblers. We spoke to a man in Gambling Anonymous who talked to us about how he lost a bunch of money one week, and he was thinking about telling people about his addiction.
And then he got a text from a customer service guy at DraftKings who said that they deposited money into his account. He checks his account, and there's $5,000 there with an option to cash out. And he was telling us that they knew that they could give him $5,000 and they wouldn't lose a cent.