At a Tuesday meeting at Scranton City Hall, local officials, health providers and recovery groups discussed a possible pilot to address problem gambling. The proposal would use Almond Digital Health’s public-health model.
According to WVIA, Almond founder and chief executive Kevin Winters said the approach puts youth education, early intervention, prevention and recovery resources alongside treatment, rather than relying on treatment alone. “We’ve got to focus. Treatment and recovery are important conversations, but upstream early intervention, education, prevention are just as important,” he said.
Winters said the city could be a model “across the country and the world” for a community-wide approach that begins with educating young people. He said he has worked in public health for more than 20 years, and that Almond takes its name from the amygdala, which he described as the part of the brain responsible for risk and addiction.
He also said the company is not anti-gambling. Instead, it aims to help people develop healthy habits, including gambling within their means or taking a break if betting starts to affect daily life.
Winters said Almond has received state funding to roll out its program to colleges, universities, employers, health plans and people seeking help in specialized clinical settings. He also said the company has developed a curriculum for K-12 students.
He tied the rise in problem gambling to the Supreme Court decision that struck down a 1992 federal law prohibiting state-approved sports gambling, after which online betting became legal state by state. In Pennsylvania, Act 42 legalized online gambling and expanded casino gambling in October 2017, and online sports betting followed in May 2019.
Mayor Paige Cognetti said the issue is not just local but national. She said it is smart to start early, looking at K-12 and even before that with parents and pediatricians, while making sure resources are available for people who need help.
Cognetti also said Scranton is well suited to a pilot because it is “small enough” for a manageable group of collaborators and “big enough” to make an impact, citing a city of about 80,000 people and a region of about 600,000. After the roundtable, she said the city was excited to have started a relationship with Almond and the groups that attended the meeting.
Scranton School District Superintendent Erin Keating said the district wants to teach students digital health and safety, including online gambling. She said online algorithms are built to hit the brain’s reward system, and that staff need professional development so they can pass those lessons on to students.
The local discussion comes amid evidence of early exposure. WVIA cited research showing that more than 20% of Pennsylvania students have gambled at some point in their lives, according to the 2023 Pennsylvania Youth Survey of students in grades 6, 8, 10 and 12. The survey was conducted in the fall of 2023, produced 262,535 valid responses, and drew participation from 1,048 of 1,953 eligible schools, a rate of 72.7%.
The Pennsylvania survey is administered every other year in the fall of odd-numbered years and is voluntary, with students able to skip questions or opt out entirely. Results are reported anonymously and in aggregate at the local, county and state levels.
WVIA also cited research saying 75% of U.S. college students gambled in the past year, 58% of 18- to 22-year-olds engaged in sports betting, and 33.7% of youth under 18 gambled over a one-year period. A February Harris Poll for the National Council on Problem Gambling found that 65% of adults 21 and older had gambled before 21, while only 15% said a primary care provider had ever asked about their gambling behavior. The poll also found that 79% said gambling addiction is as serious as or more serious than alcohol or drug addiction.
The broader public-health case was echoed in background material. GREO says a public-health framework for gambling looks at primary, secondary and tertiary prevention across the continuum of harm, and that gambling harm can affect the individual, family and community. HRiA describes problem gambling as a “hidden addiction” that often co-occurs with other mental health and substance use disorders, with as many as 96% meeting criteria for another mental illness and about 16% attempting suicide.
Recovery groups also weighed in. Kyle Popish, who founded WholePath Wellness and treats people ages 14 to 70, said he welcomed the conversation and suggested more group support meetings in the area. There are currently two Gamblers Anonymous meetings nearby, one on Sundays from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at St. Matthew’s United Evangelical Church in Scranton and one on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. at Waverly United Methodist Church in Waverly.
The state also lists help resources for gambling problems. Pennsylvania’s Gambling Helpline is free, confidential and available 24/7/365 by call, text or online chat, and the Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs says people can search by county for treatment providers or call 1-800-GAMBLER to reach a telehealth provider if their county has no provider. DDAP also describes self-exclusion as a way to request exclusion from legalized gaming in casinos, offsite venues, online, at VGT establishments and in fantasy contests.
