Dr. James Whelan of the University of Memphis Gambling Clinic

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The thrill of placing sports wagers can also have a downside that few like to talk about – gambling addiction. But the subject was broached at the recent House Finance, Ways and Means budget committee meeting by Rep. Johnny Garrett (R-Goodlettsville), who wanted to know about treatments available to Tennesseans.

“There are several components to that,” explains Mary Beth Thomas, executive director of the state’s Sports Wagering Council. “First, 5% of the privilege tax that’s collected goes to the Department of Mental Health for responsible gaming initiatives. And the Department of Health completely oversees that money. They run what is called the Tennessee Redline, which is a phone number that can be called by anybody who has problems and wants to be referred to a network of providers.”

One Thomas mentioned specifically was the University of Memphis Gambling Clinic, which she describes as “a really well-known, nationally respected gambling clinic. They have telehealth available, but they’re developing a more robust website that allows people to get more (help) instantaneously through the website, which is great. And they’re building a program in East Tennessee through ETSU and working on one in Middle Tennessee, as well.”

Thomas says the SWC regularly meets with officials at the clinic “to talk about what they’re seeing and how that aligns with what our rules require as far as our sportsbooks and their responsible gaming initiatives. And how we can best draft our rules to make sure that we’re actually requiring things that will help people who want to have treatment options get treatment or identify problems.”

The Ledger recently spoke with Dr. James Whelan, executive director of the University of Memphis Gambling Clinic. He played a key role not only in establishing the East Tennessee State outreach program two years ago but also the one that will open by September in the Nashville area.

“Our mission is to be able to provide people with a variety of treatment options that might help them gain control of their gambling and reduce the harm that it causes to them and to their families,” Whelan says.

“We’ve expanded the clinic here to having one at ETSU in Johnson City. And in both places we do both in-person and telehealth treatment. So we’ve been treating people from across the state for probably about four or five years now and with a physical location in East Tennessee two years ago.

“We’re also developing a website that will provide anyone who’s interested with information, but also provide individuals who have gambling harms with some initial strategies to sort of arrest them. And to improve their well-being, as well as resources for family members who are upset, distraught, concerned about a family member or friend who they’re concerned about their gambling behavior.”

Whelan points out that gambling addictions are nothing new.

“We’ve had gambling in Tennessee forever. At our clinic in Memphis, we’ve treated over 1,500 people. We treated our first person in 1999 – and that was before there was a Tennessee lottery,” he says. “These were people who were driving to Missouri for lottery tickets or driving to Tunica or elsewhere before casinos or gambling illegally, whether it be through sportsbooks, looking or in illegal card games or dice games.”

And now, just 4 miles from the Tennessee border, is the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Bristol, Virginia. Whelan says while many of the ETSU patients get help via the telehealth option, others prefer in-person care.

“As soon as we started reaching out to have telehealth options, we’ve been treating people in Knoxville and Chattanooga and all over the state,” Whelan notes. “Efforts in Johnson City have helped us reach out into the more rural communities, so those people aren’t necessarily in Johnson City.

“Of course, the addition of the casino in Bristol, Virginia, has had an impact on increasing gambling access in the area. We’ve had some people come for in-person treatment that will drive an hour or so to get to Johnson City. But we’ve been treating people in some of the rural counties in East Tennessee just by reaching out to health care providers.”

Whelan says gambling addictions can be found across the state in rural areas as well as the major cities, and that’s why it’s important to have a presence in Nashville as well as East and West Tennessee.

“We are on track to have a physical location in Nashville, if not sometime this summer, by early fall at the very latest,” he says. “Developing a new location has lots of complications but we’re hoping this summer and at the very latest Sept. 1, we’ll have an operating clinic in Nashville which will also deliver both in-person and telehealth services.

“We’re seeing increased (gambling problem) numbers, particularly in the Nashville area, but it’s another densely populated area. We’re slowly beginning to get some people who are aware of us and aware of the treatment options in more rural areas.

“One of the things about partnering with East Tennessee State is they’re great partners for us because their training program is specifically focused on rural care. So that has shifted what we do, how we’ve traditionally marketed ourselves or let people know what we’re doing.

“We know that in more rural communities, we need to do a lot of provider education. And that’s why on the website, we’re actually going to have a part of the website to be for providers so they can make referrals. We’ve learned from them at ETSU that the research shows in rural communities, the primary health care provider is a conduit for people getting assistance with just about any problem.”

Speaking of problems, next month – Feb. 11, to be exact – is the NFL’s Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas, the biggest sports betting event in the U.S. and second only to the World Cup globally.

“The Super Bowl is one of the biggest events in any year for gambling and sports wagering, obviously. For the people that we treat, they’re aware of gambling options every day of the week. I mean, we’ll treat sports wagerers who, believe it or not, who will bet on cricket matches that are occurring in the UK and India,” Whelan says.

But he points out that gambling addictions aren’t just a one-day event.

“What we help people do is identify what are the high-risk moments for them and to plan for them specifically. But we don’t really think of those as a single event like the Super Bowl. It would be football – you know, all season long. (These are) people who have problems, who have been betting heavily throughout the season and will change the different sports in different seasons of the year.

“It really is a little bit different for every person, so I think that the Super Bowl is a great day for us or anyone to highlight the potential harms that can occur to people due to gambling. I think for the people we treat, developing their resources to manage high-risk situations is really tailored to that individual.”