DoD Appropriations For Military Gambling Addiction Study Is Major Milestone

The 2026 U.S. Dept. of Defense (DoD) Appropriations bill directs annual funding to study gambling addiction, marking the first time since 1997 that a federal agency has been funded and tasked with researching the issue specifically.

The National Council for Problem Gambling (NCPG) sent out a press release outlining the appropriation, which will come via the DoD’s Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP). The bill was approved by the House, 217-213, Wednesday and it will now be sent to President Donald Trump to sign. HB 4016 was previously approved by the Senate.

The funding is part of $370 million that will be allocated to the PRMRP, and while it’s not clear exactly how much will go toward gambling addiction research, the NCPG estimates the minimum will be $5 million. DoD appropriations are made annually, but NCPG Director of Government Relations and League Relations Cole Wogoman told Casino Reports that “the hardest part is getting it in the first time,” and the hope is that it will be an annual allocation. Every year, however, the NCPG will have to lobby to have a senator request inclusion. This year, New Mexico Sen. Ben Ray Luján took the lead in the championing the issue.

Ultimately, the research will give the NCPG and other problem and responsible gaming groups a starting place in the conversation with lawmakers about next steps.

“We’ll be able to use it to be able to speak to lawmakers, instead of starting at square one, we’ll be able to start at square two or three, and we want to build off it,” Wogoman said. “We are confident that this research will show that there is a higher incidence of gambling addiction in the military than the general population, and then we can get Congress to act on this.”

While national problem and responsible gambling advocates place the percentage of those in the general population affected by gambling disorder at between 1%-2%, that number is likely closer to 10% among active military members, according to NCPG research.

Conceptually, the idea of taking care of military members is considered a bi-partisan issue. And learning more about problem gambling in the military could potentially open doors for research about gambling addiction in other sectors.

“Right now we’re kind of looking at populational research, like how many people are affected, but looking at this group, which has the highest percentage of people affected, starts to move from a broad public health perspective to focus on the harm,” former NCPG executive director Keith Whyte told Casino Reports. “[The military is] the last group that has broad, public bi-partisan support. To do right by them is important in its own right, and it’s also going to pave the way for the understanding that if this group has higher risk factors, what about first responders, and other subgroups?”

Military long a focus for NCPG

Whyte, now a responsible gambling consultant who works with state and tribal governments as well as industry stakeholders through his Safer Gambling Strategies LLC, said the military population has long been close to the heart of the NCPG. The organization was founded in 1972 by Army veteran Joseph A. Dunne and Robert Custer, who worked with the Veterans Administration.

During his 27-year tenure at the NCPG, Whyte worked on funding initiatives, and says that this success was “built on the shoulders of giants,” and furthered by Wogoman and NCPG Director of Public Affairs Cait Huble.

“This inclusion sends a clear signal that gambling addiction is a public health issue, not a stigma” NCPG Executive Director Heather Maurer said via press release. “When we invest in research, we reduce stigma, improve care, and build the knowledge needed to protect individuals, families, and readiness.”

The last time the federal government directed funds to research gambling addiction — 29 years ago — it sent $9 million to the National Gambling Impact Study Commission at the National Institutes for Health (NIH). That was a one-time allocation.

Active military at much higher risk

Since then, no government funding has been earmarked to explicitly study gambling issues, despite the growth of the industry. The Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act in 2018, making gambling a state’s rights issue, and in the last eight years, more than 35 U.S. states have legalized some form of sports betting, and seven states have legalized online casinos.

In many cases, casinos with slot machines are available on international bases, though they are banned on U.S. bases. Wogoman said that few studies have been done, despite the fact that gambling addiction is a co-morbidity for many other issues that can affect military members, including PTSD. Those serving are also separated from their families for long periods, and many fall into the key 18-35-year-old gambling demographic.

Wogoman was clear in saying the NCPG isn’t looking to have casinos — military or otherwise — banned. Rather the organization seeks top-level problem and responsible gaming oversight where they do exist.

“We’re not trying to get them removed,” he said. In general, “casino staff are trained to spot potential issues,” but that’s not always the case on military bases. And there are few, if any avenues, for service members to get gambling addiction treatment on base or through the military branches at large.

“We need to get the research started so we can go to Congress with hard evidence and get the government to take this seriously and protect service members,” he said.

Shining a light on gambling addiction and pushing for change is a slow and difficult process. Likely the last biggest news with regard to gambling addiction on the nationwide stage was it’s reclassification from an “impulse control disorder” to a “substance-related and addictive disorder” in 2013 in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). The update in the DSM-5 made it so that that gambling addiction is treated like other psychiatric conditions, and in many cases, treatment is covered by insurance companies.

Process has been long

The appropriation for the study was inserted into the DoD bill in August, but even before then, Wogoman said, it took a village.

“I’m proud of the work my team did to get this past the finish line,” he said. “We had lobbyists on the ground, state chapters [of the NCPG] writing to [Congressional] members, we had board members coming with us, so it required a little bit from everyone. That’s what I am most proud of is that as a community we accomplished this. I think we can take this playbook” and run with it.

A day after House approval, the NCPG was already back lobbying on the hill to keep the appropriation in the 2027 budget. From here, those on the PRMRP staff will determine how to spend the research dollars. The NCPG has offered guidance on what it believes will be the most useful study questions and areas.

“It feels good,” Wogoman said. “But it makes me hungry for more.

“It’s a good first step … these people put their life on the line, the least we can do is give them any support.”