Wisconsin Council on Problem Gambling Fact Sheet

The WCPG provides education and awareness on the issues of problem and compulsive gambling while maintaining strict neutrality on legalized gambling.

Approximately 333,000 Wisconsin residents have a gambling problem.

Calls to the Wisconsin Council on Problem Gambling’s 24-hour Helpline have increased 389% since 1996.

The 24-hour Helpline received 16,779 calls in 2020.

The average debt of callers contacting the Helpline is $30,377.

The average age of female gamblers calling the Helpline is 45 years. Male caller’s average age is 38.

Seniors and adolescents are at high risk to become addicted to gambling.

Gambling related embezzlements continue to rise in Wisconsin.

WCPG is one of 34 affiliates of the National Council on Problem Gambling located in Washington, D.C.

65% of compulsive gamblers commit crimes to finance their gambling.

Six to twenty percent of adolescents develop gambling problems.

The WCPG provides a statewide Public Awareness Campaign including billboards, bus ads, several hundred media contacts each year, annual conference, training programs for treatment providers, resource library, signage in casino restrooms, high school curriculum, development and distribution of posters, brochures and educational booklets, and Social Media including Facebook, Twitter, You Tube and Instagram.

Suicide rates are 20 times higher among pathological gamblers compared to non-gamblers.

People who have other addictions are at a higher risk of becoming addicted to gambling.

The Council is the only organization in Wisconsin dedicated to assisting thousands of problem and compulsive gamblers.

Calling 1-800-GAMBLE-5, available 24-hours a day, will help you find the resources you need to get help for a gambling problem. Chat line available at wi-problemgamblers.org. Text line at: 850-888-HOPE.