Federal gambling tax revenue now funds addiction treatment for states
H.R. 1141 — Gambling Addiction Recovery, Investment, and Treatment Act · Filed by Andrea Salinas (D-OR) · Introduced Feb 7, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill authorizes the federal government to award grants to states for gambling addiction treatment and recovery programs, funded by a portion of federal gambling taxes. The grants are allocated to states using the same formula as existing substance-abuse prevention grants. The National Institute on Drug Abuse may also fund gambling addiction research. Funding is authorized at 37.5% of annual federal gambling tax revenue for state grants and 12.5% for research, running through 2034.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is authorizing federal grants for gambling addiction treatment and research, funded from gambling tax revenue. It is a straightforward public health appropriation with no hidden provisions or narrow beneficiaries.
What the text implies
- The bill does not appropriate funds — it only authorizes appropriations. Actual funding depends on Congress passing annual appropriations bills; the authorization does not guarantee money will flow.
- Funding is pegged to gambling tax revenue, which fluctuates with gambling activity. A decline in gambling (or tax compliance) would reduce available funding for treatment.
- The bill does not specify how states must use grants or what outcomes they must achieve, leaving implementation details to HHS rulemaking.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill creates a dedicated funding stream for gambling addiction treatment and research, addressing a public health need that currently lacks robust federal support. Citizens with gambling addiction and their families gain access to treatment resources; the funding mechanism (gambling tax revenue) creates a logical nexus between the harm and the remedy.
Who stands to gain
- state mental health and substance abuse agencies
- treatment providers and clinics receiving state grant funding
- research institutions affiliated with NIDA
Named in the bill
Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary of the Treasury, States, Public Health Service Act, Internal Revenue Code Section 4401(a)(1)
Where it stands
- Feb 7, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Feb 7, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
4 lobbying clients named this bill on 4 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $750,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 10 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 72% of bills with at least one filing.
Andrea Salinas, the sponsor, reported $700,715 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- American Gaming Association — $660,000 on 1 filing
- American Gaming Association — $50,000 on 1 filing
- National Alliance on Mental Illness — $20,000 on 1 filing
- National Council on Problem Gambling — $20,000 on 1 filing
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,181 characters) on Jun 3, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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