Illinois recognizes gambling addiction, allowing new treatment options

CHICAGO — Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill Friday that officially recognizes gambling disorder as an addiction in Illinois.

The legislation, Senate Bill 2749, updates the state’s existing Substance Use Disorder Act to codify gambling addiction under the same framework as alcohol and drug use disorders, allowing the Illinois Department of Human Services’ behavioral health division to offer programs and support to compulsive gamblers and affected families.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Julie Morrison, D-Lake Forest, said recognizing the disorder under the law would make it easier for the state to provide resources for those struggling with gambling addiction.

“We see people who have alcohol dependencies, people who have drug addictions. I think we recognize those as disorders, and it’s in statute, and we are providing different granting mechanisms, different ways to help those people across the state,” Morrison said. “We haven’t done that with gambling, and that’s what this bill is about. It’s just recognizing the fact this is also another addiction disorder, and those people also need the help.”

The bill passed with broad bipartisan support this spring, receiving dissenting votes from only 11 Republican representatives in the House and passing unanimously in the Senate.

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Gambling disorder is often considered a hidden disease, as the symptoms can be less physically evident than alcohol or drug abuse. But according to experts, the dopamine release that compulsive gamblers receive when placing a bet creates a compulsion just as strong.

Gambling also has one of the highest rates of suicide of any addictive disorder; the National Council on Problem Gambling estimates one in five compulsive gamblers have tried to take their own life.

In Illinois, more than a million people, over one in 10 adults, are estimated to have a gambling addiction or to be at risk of developing one.

A recent investigation by Capitol News Illinois and Illinois Answers project found that people in Illinois lost over $7.7 billion gambling last year. That spending is fueled by compulsive gamblers, who drain inheritances, work bonuses and nest eggs to fund their addiction.

Read more: Addicted to gambling in Illinois: ‘Someone has decided they can make money off you’ | What compulsive gamblers know

The ability to hide the disease — and the lack of public awareness about it — means people don’t often seek treatment, according to providers who specialize in gambling addiction treatment.

When they do, the resources available to help them remain “a leap year behind” treatment options for alcohol and drug addiction, according to Ryan Aten, a policy analyst with the Illinois Association for Behavioral Health, or IABH, which advocates for the prevention and treatment of addiction and mental illness.

Still, Aten cheered the bill becoming law as a “massive step” forward.

“SUD (substance use disorder) has treatment facilities. There’s not gambling facilities in the same way,” Aten said. “This is a big step because we’re really bringing the attention first. Attention is the thing that gambling needs, because it is something so normalized as a whole.”

According to IDHS, recognizing gambling as an addiction under the law is intended to provide a level of legitimization for the disorder, helping to address public stigma.

The bill took immediate effect after receiving Pritzker’s signature.

What’s covered, and what’s not

Before the passage of the bill, compulsive gamblers in Illinois could only receive state-funded inpatient services if they also had a substance use disorder that required in-patient treatment. The law now allows the state to offer treatment for compulsive gambling on its own, according to IDHS.

It also allows the state to provide additional training to addiction counselors and expands options for prevention services, such as offering early awareness and intervention programs in high schools and colleges.

“The Pritzker Administration has made clear that gambling must be responsibly regulated, with strong consumer protections and meaningful investments in treatment and prevention,” a spokesperson for Pritzker told Capitol News Illinois in an email. “SB 2749 builds on that commitment by strengthening Illinois’ approach to gambling disorder prevention, education and treatment.”

However, advocates like IABH worry about the lack of guaranteed funding or specific timeline for implementation in the legislation. The bill did not allocate any new funding for treatment, though lawmakers set aside $15 million in the fiscal year 2026 budget to the treatment and prevention of compulsive gambling, up $5 million from the year before.

But the amount the state actually spends to treat gambling addiction remains small: Only $0.06 for every $100 collected in state gambling taxes was devoted to treatment and prevention last year.

People familiar with the bill say it does not make gambling addiction treatment eligible for Medicaid payments, a major barrier to treatment for low-income people, though IABH analyst Aten said he hoped to see a bill introduced next session that could build on the groundwork laid by this law.

Now that the addiction has been recognized, Aten added, the actual prevention and treatment resources can follow.

“This bill has been probably one of the biggest gambling bills we’ve seen in many, many years, because it does bring that awareness and does bring the attention to an emerging problem,” Aten said.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.