Inside the battle for gambling addiction hotline 1-800-GAMBLER

The booming business of betting across America has led to soaring concerns over problem gambling.

Generally, ads for legitimate, licensed casinos and sportsbooks carry some kind of disclaimer that gambling is supposed to be for entertainment. The small print might offer: “Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER.”

That number is about as memorable and sticky as you can get. And it prompted a brief but intense legal battle over who has the right or the moral imperative to operate the closest thing the U.S. has to a national gambling hotline.

The National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) has been running the helpline since 2022, leasing it for $150,000 annually from the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey (CCGNJ), which had previously operated it since 1983.

Since the national organization took over, monthly call traffic has increased 34% and media mentions have soared more than 5,000%, leading to a third of Americans recognizing 1-800-GAMBLER as a national hotline, according to the NCPG.

Now the CCGNJ wants its number back.

The contract between the two groups ends Tuesday. The national group notified the New Jersey group of its intention to exercise its right of renewal and extend for another five years. CCGNJ refused.

“It’s our property, ” Luis Del Orbe, CCGNJ’s executive director, told CNBC. The group also owns 800gambler.org.

The National Council sued for an emergency stay this summer to prevent the New Jersey council from taking back operations, arguing that the local group doesn’t have the resources to staff or operate the hotline around the clock.

NCPG has significant financial backing from the NFL — more than $12 million over six years — and major sportsbook operators. The council spends $1.5 million annually providing infrastructure and connection for callers in 10 states and serving as a kind of call-in way station for dozens of other jurisdictions.

Lawyers for the national council argued that reverting it back under New Jersey’s operation would have devastating consequences.

“Thousands of individuals and families could suddenly find themselves without access to the only national lifeline for problem gambling,” said Amanda Szmuc, an attorney with Offit Kurman.

Del Orbe of the New Jersey organization said his staff is prepared for an increase in calls. When calls come into his office after-hours, they’re forwarded to a 24-hour call center in Louisiana — the same one that services many states and local jurisdictions that funnel through 1-800-GAMBLER, he said.

Del Orbe told CNBC his organization felt NCPG was “weaponizing the number,” demanding data on problem gambling from local councils and threatening to bar them from the hotline if they refused.

The NCPG collects and analyzes data from problem gambling calls, often to illustrate the danger of addiction to betting. But not every state that uses 1-800-GAMBLER shares its statistics with the national council.

The national council said, “Despite repeated outreach and offers of consultation, training, and stipends, two state councils declined to participate, and one failed to meet requirements.” It said it began rerouting calls from those states to the call center in Louisiana.

“Our greatest fear is that people in crisis will pick up the phone, or send a text, and find no one on the other end,” said Jaime Costello, director of programs at NCPG.

The NFL said in a statement to CNBC, “Under NCPG’s stewardship, 1-800-GAMBLER has been transformed into a vitally important national resource—making it easier for anyone, anywhere in the country to get quality care when they need it. Any disruption or degradation of that service is deeply concerning.”

On Monday, the New Jersey Supreme Court denied NCPG’s request for an emergency stay, a last ditch effort to keep the number from reverting to the local council.

The National Council on Problem Gambling says for now it will revert to using its old number, 1-800-522-4700, which isn’t quite as easy to remember.