Problem gamblers treatment services get financial boost
Pub Date: 5/1/2008
Huntington then presented the council with a paper that outlined a proposal to create a new catch-all category of licensure for businesses associated with gambling. He said, rather than create a specific new category for every new type of business that ought to be licensed, one broad category would be preferable.
Such businesses are those now offering accounting packages designed to work with the state's automated electronic tax reporting system, for example, and another is an out-of-state company that proposes to take possession, recycle and otherwise dispose of obsolete gaming equipment.
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Donna Johnson, executive director of the Montana Council on Problem Gambling, was called upon to update the council on the MCPG's treatment and training programs. Johnson detailed growth in demand for services (see complete report in the April edition of the Montana Tavern Times) and  announced a new training session for treatment providers that was set to occur April 18-19.
Councilman Mark Kennedy, who is also president of the MCPG, noted industry stepped up financial contributions last year to augment treatment program resources and also noted some individual businesses that were cited for legal violations had made donations to the programs as a demonstration of goodwill.
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Johnson later told the Montana Tavern Times, "We at the MCPG are doing a jig. So far we have received $36,000," from gaming businesses in violation.
"We have been able to add family outpatient counseling groups,"
Source: The Montana Tavern Times, May, 2008, published monthly by Continental Communications, 125 W. Granite St., Suite 102, Butte, MT 59701.