Contact Legislators to Support HB5499 to Require Gambling Addiction Education
HB5499 would require schools to include gambling addiction in health education.
Though it is a parallel type of disorder with an estimated 750,000 American teens addicted and significant social costs including hundreds of thousands at risk of suicide and committing crimes, this addiction is not required to be taught about in schools like alcohol or drug addiction.
We must take every step we can to educate our young people about the risks of addiction, especially addiction carefully engineered by large companies to prey on children shrouded by the privacy of a child's phone.
Contact your legislators to tell them to support this bill.
Contact Legislators to Oppose Online Casino-Style Gambling Bill
HB2239 would allow gambling operators with Illinois licenses to offer online casino-style gambling. This would massively increase the addiction risk currently posed by online gambling avenues like sports betting, creating new and even more deadly opportunities for secretive 24/7 gambling activity that prey on those prone to addiction.
Contact Legislators to Close the Sweepstakes Machine Loophole
A loophole in Illinois’ gambling laws allows sweepstakes machines to exist unregulated even in municipalities that ban video slot machines. These predatory machines exploit those experiencing addiction and are pervasive in some low-income areas. A bill backed by a bipartisan coalition of legislators in a previous session to correct this unfortunate situation in state law has been introduced again in this session - SB1504.
Religious Leaders’ Toolkit
Here’s our toolkit for learning more about gambling addiction, its impact in your congregation, and how you can help! Pass this on to leaders you know!