It has spent no money to conduct research to measure the prevalence of addiction or to gauge which treatments are most effective. The state has allocated inadequate amounts for marketing campaigns to encourage people with gambling problems to seek help. Over the past decade, the number of people receiving state-funded treatment has declined. Despite promises to increase funding for gambling addiction, Illinois spends less today than it did before legalizing the machines, a ProPublica Illinois/WBEZ investigation has found. Lawmakers introduced and passed the 2009 Video Gaming Act in less than 48 hours, without holding a single hearing or conducting even a cursory study of the potential impact of the massive gambling expansion. Yet the state has failed to address the issue of gambling addiction in any meaningful way. Gamblers here have lost over $5 billion playing the algorithm-driven machines, which have been described as “electronic morphine” and “the crack cocaine of gambling.” In the 6 ½ years since video gambling went live in September 2012, some 30,000 video slot and poker machines have been installed at 6,800 locations around Illinois, more than in any other state. (Whitney Curtis, special to ProPublica Illinois) said he spent about $2,400 a week on video gambling machines at the height of his addiction in 20.

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