ORLANDO, Fla. – Gambling on sports has become completely normalized in society but that normalization has led to a spike in calls to Florida’s sole problem gambling center — a center that’s currently not receiving any state funding.

Despite seeing the most call volume in its 37-year history, the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling is also working with a staff of just seven people, including executive director Jennifer Kruse.

“It definitely should be the other way around,” Kruse told News 6. “Unfortunately, circumstances haven’t allowed for that.”

No state funding for problem gambling services

Since the Hard Rock Bet app went live more than a year ago, calls from problem gamblers have skyrocketed. In 2024, the first full calendar year the app has been available for Floridians, roughly 63,000 people reached out for help — nearly double the volume from 2023.

Florida’s only problem gambling hotline, the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling, currently has a staff that’s trying to keep their heads above water. The seven employees are responsible for answering more than 170 calls, texts, and live chats that come in every single day for a hotline that never closes.

“We definitely do not (have the staff for this),” Kruse said. “We operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. (We need) probably 30 at this point.”

However, adding new staff members isn’t in the budget after state funding dried up eight months ago — despite the Hard Rock Bet app generating billions of dollars in tax revenue. For the last twenty years, the Florida Gaming Control Commission has provided state funding to the council, but those dollars stopped in July 2024 over a housekeeping issue.

According to the contract, which voters initiated in a 2004 referendum, $2 million in annual revenue generated by the eight facilities that operate slots in Broward and Miami-Dade counties went toward problem and compulsive gambling programming.

“While we’ve had this huge increase in contacts to the helpline and expansion of gambling in the state of Florida, there have not been equitable resources allocated for this issue,” Kruse added. “Currently, we are funded solely by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, so without the Seminoles, there would be no resource for people with a gambling problem in the state of Florida.”

In a statement to News 6, the Florida Gaming Control Commission said in part:

“At the end of the latest term of its contract with the Commission, the Council declined the Commission’s offer to renew the contract.”

Kruse said the funding stopped because they couldn’t keep up with the records demands from the commission. It would take the staff more than 100 hours every month to prepare monthly reports of information needed for the funding to continue. Pictures provided to News 6 from Kruse show binders as tall as some of the employees of hard copies requested by the commission.

“We’re doing the best we can and we’re really thankful that we have the support of the Seminole Tribe, and that’s we’re still able to be here and to answer the phones,” she said.

The commission told News 6 that immediately after the contract wasn’t renewed, it began seeking a new partner. That process is ongoing.

The rise of legalized sports gambling

Betting on sports is nothing new but for decades it was under-the-table, taboo and something people didn’t talk about.

That all changed in 2018 when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Professional Sports and Amateur Protection Act, which previously barred sports betting in every state except Nevada. The ruling gave states the green light to decide if they wanted to make it legal, and nearly 40 states have done just that.

In Florida, the legalization came in April 2021 when Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and the Seminole Tribe signed a gambling compact. The deal allowed the Tribe to begin offering sports betting across the state. After years of legal challenges, the Supreme Court in October 2023 rejected a challenge to the compact that tried to block online sports betting. Two months later, Hard Rock Bet went live.

“Basically, (the compact) gave (the Seminole tribe) a monopoly on legal gambling in Florida,” said Dr. Keith Buckley, a professor of international business at Rollins College. “In return, the state of Florida was pretty much guaranteed up to 2030 about $4.4 billion. I think that’s a really low estimate, so I think the tax returns are going to be quite extensive.”

It’s difficult to quantify just how many Floridians have signed up for the Hard Rock Bet app as well as how much money has been shelled out on sports wagers. The Seminole Tribe doesn’t publicize such data. But online gambling as a whole has exploded in popularity across the country over the last decade.

In 2024, Americans wagered more than $142 billion on sports — a big jump from the $5 billion people laid down in 2017 before the courts struck down the ruling.

“There’s just been an entire proliferation of gambling,” Kruse said. “It’s the norm. It’s acceptable in society whereas 20 years ago, it wasn’t.”

Commercials are everywhere promoting gambling, and they often include familiar faces placing bets and winning big. Advertising for the Hard Rock Bet, for example, features singer Post Malone. Even ESPN has its own sports book that it actively promotes during sporting events that air on its network and professional sports leagues have partnerships with betting platforms, including FanDuel and DraftKings.

Buckley, who’s also been the head soccer coach at Rollins College since 1991, said the aggressive marketing campaign can pose serious problems for those who are addicted.

“It’s the alcoholic being in a bar, it’s the same analogy,” he said. “Someone who may be in recovery from a gambling addiction who’s been able to avoid triggers or temptations or urges to gamble can now turn on the television and see ads on every single station.”

The center also keeps track of who is placing the calls for help and about half are men in their 20s. Among college students, a 2023 survey revealed one in five have used financial aid to support their habit.

A recent NCAA study also showed that 60% of young men on college campuses are sports betting.

“It’s definitely normalized,” Buckley explained. “What we’re seeing is for young men, it’s a social activity. They’re gambling between themselves; they’re using the app and the variants of different games you can play.”

“If you go back 10 years ago, it would be a very, very small percentage of callers who were in the 21 and under range,” Kruse added. “Now, I would tell you almost half are men 18 to 25. And they report that they started gambling most often before the age of 18.”

Given how easy it’s become to place a bet in today’s online world, Kruse isn’t surprised to see more people getting hooked.

“There’s a basic formula for risk,” she said. “It’s accessibility plus acceptability equals increased vulnerability to problem gambling. The more acceptable and accessible an activity is, the more likely there is a chance for people to develop a problem.”

Even at the center, it can be hard to tell just how many people are struggling with a gambling addiction. Kruse says only a small percentage of people who develop a problem actually reach out for help.

“I think there’s a shame and a stigma associated with it,” she explained. “I think people who have a problem are afraid to admit it maybe because of the finances that are tied to it. They’re afraid it might impact their career or their ability to get a job.”

Part of the problem is that gambling is a hidden addiction.

“It’s very much like a substance-use addiction, similar to alcohol and drugs, but it’s also very different,” Kruse said. “There’s no saturation point. Somebody can only sit at a bar and ingest so much alcohol or ingest so much of a chemical or a substance before they pass out or have a physical reaction to it. With gambling, with the click of a mouse, you can lose millions; lose your entire life savings.”

“It’s not a crisis yet, but it’s going to be,” Buckley added. “There’s no visual appearance that someone is a compulsive and addicted gambler.”

Beyond the financial losses, studies suggest sports gambling can heighten the risk of suicidality and domestic violence.

Aside from operating the call center, the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling also has outreach services and educates the community about the dangers of problem gambling starting with kids as young as elementary-aged.

“It’s all about prevention,” Kruse said. “Having the conversations and explaining that, yes, gambling is normalized, but there is a risk that’s associated with it.”

Hurricane Ian damage

Another challenge the council has been facing is the damage its downtown Sanford headquarters sustained during Hurricane Ian in 2022, which is forcing most of the seven employees to work remotely.

“The damage originally started upstairs,” Kruse said. “It took so long with insurance, as you know there were a lot of insurance claims then, that by the time they came out and started doing their assessments mold had developed.”

Construction on the building is mostly done, but the work to re-organize the roughly 630,000 helpline items continues to take up a lot of the staff’s time.

“We’re now taking them out of the ServPro boxes, and we’re having to recount everything,” Kruse said. “We’re putting them in plastic containers, which is just time-consuming when you’re counting pens and brochures.”

All of this on top of the more callers than ever, their smallest staff yet, and no state funding.

If you or someone you know has a gambling addiction, help is available at the Florida Council on Compulsive Gambling. You can call their help center 24/7 at 888-ADMIT-IT (236-4848).

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