A widely-shared and quoted article by CT News Junkie claims that the Connecticut House of Representatives has advanced a bill to address online gambling addiction. However, this is a misreading of the bill, stemming from the ambiguous use of the word “gaming.”
The bill in question, HB07215, did advance from the House last week by a vote of 20-10. However, the problem it seeks to address is that of addictive video games, not real-money gambling.
The gambling industry frequently describes its products as “gaming,” seeking to reinforce their recreational nature and avoid negative stigma. That word choice is often echoed by regulators and legislators, adding to the confusion.
However, in this case, the bill uses “gaming” in its more common and general sense. It calls for the creation of a program to treat and rehabilitate individuals suffering from an addiction to online video games.
It describes the problem it seeks to address as follows:
As used in this section, “Internet gaming disorder” is a disorder in which a person is chronically and progressively preoccupied with videogames and the urge to play and exhibits behavior that compromises, disrupts or damages person, family or vocational pursuits.
Online gambling in the form of mobile casinos and sportsbooks has been legal in Connecticut since 2021. Rising numbers of calls to the state’s problem gambling helpline and a high volume of sports betting ads have created the perception of a problem gambling epidemic. However, there is a simultaneous national backlash against popular games like Roblox, especially when it comes to their effects on school-age children.
What is internet gaming addiction?
Gambling can be highly addictive, but so can video games. The latest edition of the Diagnostics and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) mentions both addictions, under separate names.
The DSM-V defines gambling disorder as:
Persistent and recurrent problematic gambling behaviorleading to clinically significant impairment or distress.
This latest version classifies gambling disorder as similar to other substance-related and addictive disorders. The previous version used the term “pathological gambling” and classified it differently, as a generic impulse-control disorder.
Conversely, the DSM-V hasn’t yet formally defined internet gaming disorder. Instead, it is included as a “conditional warranting more clinical research,” which might warrant inclusion in a subsequent version of the manual.
Much of the existing research on the topic comes from Asian countries where the youth culture around video games is particularly intense. Those preliminary results suggest that intense video game use can activate neural pathways in a similar way to drug use. So, there’s some chance that internet gaming disorder may come to be recognized as an addiction in the same category as gambling addiction and various substance addictions.
Connecticut’s child gambling addiction bill
Although HB07215 doesn’t have anything to do with gambling per se, there is a simultaneous effort afoot to address gambling addiction in individuals below the legal gambling age.
HB06184 was introduced by Rep. Sarah Keitt in January, but hasn’t advanced beyond the Joint Committee on Children.
Titled An Act Concerning The Treatment Of Children With Gambling Disorders, it seeks to address underage gambling in two ways:
- Requiring the Department of Children and Families to employ a clinician certified to treat gambling disorder.
- Allowing such counselors to treat children over 16 but below the legal gambling age without notifying the parents, so as not to discourage these older teens from independently seeking help.
A study that came out last month found that one-quarter of Connecticut adolescents gamble at least occasionally.
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