CasinoBeats
The National Council on Problem Gambling (NCPG) is in the middle of its annual conference in Nashville, Tennessee. The event’s sponsors are a cause for concern, according to recovered problem gambler Louis Ruggiero Jr.
Ruggiero spent 12 years as a compulsive gambler and says he lost over $10 million. His gambling reached a breaking point in December 2024.
“I was suicidal,” Ruggiero told CasinoBeats in an interview this week. “I had a 10-month-old child at home and a fiancée who loved me and couldn’t figure out what was happening to me, because I had gotten that good at hiding it. That’s this disease. You can be dying in your own house, and the people who love you most can’t see it.”
Ruggiero said Gamblers Anonymous saved him.
“Walking into that room and telling the truth for the first time. And then doing the real work, because gambling wasn’t the whole problem,” he added. “The lying, the ego, the stuff I was running from before I ever placed a bet.”
Since recovering, Ruggiero has started The Gambling Truth Project, an independent organization that counters the gambling industry’s narratives by raising public awareness of the realities of modern betting practices.
NCPG Conference Sponsored By Major Gambling Companies
One of the key words there is “independent,” claims Ruggiero. Something that the NCPG cannot claim. On the conference’s sponsor page, the first two brands are Bally’s and FanDuel, which serve as “star spangled sponsors” of the event.
“You can’t hold the industry accountable when the industry is paying for the room. It’s that simple,” argues Ruggiero. “The NCPG is supposed to be the national voice for problem gamblers. Instead, the people causing the problem are writing the checks and getting their logos on the banners.”
Others with their logos on the sponsor page include DraftKings, Caesars, MGM, PENN, Aristocrat, and Four Winds Casinos. The problem with this, Ruggiero says, is that “nobody bites the hand that feeds them. So the criticism gets softer. The language gets friendlier. And the guy in crisis at 2 am isn’t in the room. He’s not a sponsor.”
Companies Commitment to Responsible Gambling Questioned
FanDuel claims that its sponsorship of the event and its partnership with the NCPG are signs of its commitment to responsible gambling. Its dedicated responsible gaming page states, “We’ve teamed up with a roster of amazing partners as we continue to expand our commitments to promoting positive play, raising awareness of problem gambling, and expanding access to educational and support resources.”
Ruggiero does not buy that position.
“A sponsorship isn’t a commitment. It’s a receipt. It’s what they point to when a regulator or a reporter comes asking questions,” he says. “If they were committed to responsible gambling, their business model wouldn’t depend on the people who can’t stop.”
This week, FanDuel filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by two gamblers who lost millions on the platform. In its response to the court, the company says “a casino or game operator does not owe a duty of care to compulsive gamblers.”
NCPG Accepts Kalshi & $2M Donation
Kalshi recently joined the NCPG, despite the company insisting it is not a gambling platform, as it defends lawsuits nationwide. The NCPG’s willingness to accept the company (and its $2 million donation) with open arms is evidence that the organization is compromised, says Ruggiero.
“Instead of drawing a line, the NCPG found a way to make room for them as a member,” he said. “Michigan looked at that and walked out. When a state affiliate would rather leave the national organization than share a table with the industry, that tells you everything about which direction the influence flows.”
Michigan left the NCPG in protest and is one of only two states, along with Nevada, that have managed to force Kalshi out. Washington may be the third, following a ruling earlier this week.
The NCPG said it “maintains a neutral position on the legality of specific gambling, wagering, or prediction products.” Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour said the company is “deeply committed to setting a new standard for responsible trading.”
“There’s a difference between paying and belonging,” Ruggiero says. “The industry should pay. It should never belong. Membership means a seat at the table. A seat means a voice. A voice means influence over the very organization that’s supposed to check you. You don’t put the casino on the board of the group protecting people from the casino. Michigan understood that. They gave up the network rather than give up the principle. That took guts.”
Ruggiero said that more states should follow Michigan’s example. “A state that puts the principle ahead of the politics and the networking,” he said. “Every other state affiliate watched Michigan do that and had to ask themselves why they stayed. When a state is willing to give up its seat rather than lend its name to something compromised, that’s leadership.”
Fund Through Mandated Taxes, Not Industry Donations
“Kalshi’s engagement demonstrates a commitment to mitigating harm before it occurs and ensuring support resources are accessible when they are needed,” said Heather L. Maurer, NCPG executive director, when accepting Kalshi’s $2 million.
The NCPG said that money will be used to “expand education and awareness of responsible trading across these markets through the development of practical, evidence-informed, and data-driven resources designed to keep pace with rapidly evolving platforms.”
So, if these donations are problematic, how should organizations such as the NCPG be funded?
“Tax it. Mandate it,” says Ruggiero. “Put a statutory levy on operators and route it through the states with no strings and no logos. That’s money with no favors attached. What we have now is voluntary sponsorship, which means the industry decides who eats.”
“The industry should absolutely pay for the damage it causes. But there’s a difference between money by law and money by handshake.”
The difference comes when a gambling (or trading) company can pick up the phone and reach the organization’s leadership, Ruggiero adds. The moment that happens, “you’re compromised, whether you admit it or not.”
“The ones doing it right keep the industry at arm’s length,” says Ruggiero. He says The Gambling Truth Project will not be taking any industry money.
Tell the Truth About Gambling Risks
The project has two goals: “Tell the public the truth about how this industry actually operates, and push policymakers and insurers to cover gambling addiction treatment the way they’d cover any other disease, including a real push for federal funding for treatment, prevention, and research.”
Ruggiero emphasized that he is not campaigning for a ban on gambling. “We’re not prohibitionist. We’re not against gamblers or gambling. We’re against the lying. We believe in the facts, lived experience, and real guardrails.”
He says the problem with the term “responsible gambling” is that it “puts the responsibility on the player. It says the product is fine, you’re the defect.”
There has been an increase in the number of lawsuits that claim gambling products are inherently designed to be addictive. Ruggiero says gambling platforms are built to catch compulsive gamblers like him, and any nods to “responsible gambling” are disingenuous.
Real Guardrails to Protect Gamblers
What needs to change to address problem gambling?
“Real deposit limits that are on by default, not buried in settings,” says Ruggiero. “Self-exclusion that actually works across every operator, not one app at a time. Limits on the ads, especially during games. Affordability checks before someone can lose their rent. And fund the other side of it: treatment and peer support.”
There has been considerable backlash from the UK gambling industry to proposed financial risk assessments (FRAs), which are a rebrand of affordability checks. This is because the industry depends on high-spending users continuing to lose money, says Ruggiero.
“I wasn’t a customer,” Ruggiero says of his own experience. “I was a VIP. FanDuel. Caesars Sportsbook. Casinos in Vegas. I had hosts. I had bonuses. I had people whose whole job was keeping me in action.”
Now he runs Gamblers Anonymous meetings and hosts the podcast Nothing’s Off The Table, which talks to others who have experienced addictions.
“The thing that keeps me recovered is being useful to the next compulsive gambler,” Ruggiero says. “The one who’s sitting where I was in December 2024, sure there’s no way out. There is. I’m proof.”
