Key points
- 48% of reporting states spent at least 5% below their FY2025 allocation for problem gambling services.
- States allocated about US$188m and spent about US$145m, a gap of around US$43m.
- Procurement delays, contracting timelines and staff shortages are the main causes, according to NAADGS.
- Public funding works out to about US$75 per person with gambling disorder, against US$919 for substance use disorders.
The National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) said on 12 October 2026 that 48% of US states spent at least 5% less than their allocated problem gambling funds in fiscal year 2025. States allocated about US$188m and spent about US$145m, a gap of around US$43m, according to a July 2026 report by the National Association of Administrators for Disordered Gambling Services (NAADGS).
The funding gap
The NAADGS report, “2025 Budget Update of Publicly Funded Problem Gambling Services in the United States”, covers 43 states that reported publicly funded programmes for FY2025. Alaska, Alabama, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Texas, Utah and the District of Columbia reported no dedicated funding.
Of the states reporting, 50% spent within 5% of their allocation and 2% spent more than 5% above it. The report names Oregon as the overspender: its budget authority was set before the state decided that unspent prior-year funds would no longer carry forward.
NAADGS puts the US$188m allocation against an estimated 2.5 million people affected by gambling disorder, or about US$75 per person. For substance use disorders, the report cites a US$44.5bn federal budget and 48.4 million affected people, or about US$919 per person.
Why problem gambling funds went unspent
The report lists procurement delays, contracting timelines, workforce and contractor shortages, programme start-up activity and budget authority increases that arrived late in the fiscal year.
In an NCPG article published on 12 October, Derek Longmeier, Board President of NCPG, argued that the underspending points to limited capacity to deliver services and names workforce investment as the biggest driver. The article says the District of Columbia left a dedicated problem gambling budget unspent for several years before eliminating it in FY2024.
NCPG also noted that legal gambling has spread to 39 states and the District of Columbia since the 2018 repeal of the federal sports betting ban, and that Americans have legally wagered more than US$668bn on sports in that period. The North America market keeps growing while the services budget goes unused.
What NCPG wants
NCPG calls for problem gambling to be treated as a behavioural health condition. Its five recommendations are prevention built into existing school and community behavioural health systems, routine gambling screening in primary care and behavioural health settings, a credentialed treatment provider network large enough to spend allocated funds, a national gambling prevalence survey comparable to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, and investment in the workforce.
The article also points to Illinois, where Governor J.B. Pritzker signed Senate Bill 2749, which recognises gambling disorder as an addiction under the state’s Substance Use Disorder Act. More coverage of iGaming regulation is on EpicWins.
