PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The state Lottery announced Wednesday that it has signed an agreement with CODAC Behavioral Healthcare to oversee efforts to help compulsive gamblers.
Starting Monday, people who need treatment will be able to call the Rhode Island-based nonprofit at 461-5056 and be provided with a choice of several treatment sites across the state, lottery Director Gerald Aubin said.
The treatment option was supposed to be in place, or at least in progress, before full-scale casino gambling began in June at Twin River. But difficulties in finding someone to study the magnitude of Rhode Island's problem gambling problem, and a miscommunication between the Lottery and the doctor who was running a previous program, led to delays.
Aubin said that Twin River and Newport Grand, as required by state law, will reimburse the Lottery at least $100,000 for the treatment program.
"The cost will be dependent on the number of persons treated as well as the length of the interim period," Aubin said.
(This story was originally published at 3:32 p.m. and updated at 4:01 p.m.)