The House Judiciary Committee Approves the WV Responsible Gaming and Research Act
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Numbers are everything when it comes to gambling, and a new bill being considered by the West Virginia House will provide insight into the state’s gaming data.
The House Judiciary Committee approved the West Virginia Responsible Gaming and Research Act on Friday, February 23rd.
The bill’s principal backer is Speaker of the House Roger Hanshaw, and it is also supported by Representative Shawn Fluharty, the president of the National Council of Legislators from Gaming States.
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West Virginia University will need to get anonymized data on its gamblers from real money online casinos in West Virginia and intermediaries under the Responsible Gaming and Research Act (RGRA). WVU will forward the information to the Department of Human Services of the State Lottery Commission. Both organizations will utilize the data in their study to better understand problematic and compulsive gambling habits and to guide future legislation aimed at making gaming safer
This kind of study, according to Sheila Moran, Director of Marketing and Communication at First Choice Services, a mental health organization, is long needed.
The last significant nationwide prevalence survey, she continued, was completed in 1999. Consider for a moment how much gambling has grown since 1999. A good deal. it makes it our best available statistic. Here in West Virginia, no prevalence research has ever been conducted.
According to Moran, the research’s level of comprehensiveness is a crucial component of the data employed.
