State agencies highlighted National Problem Gambling Awareness Week this week by promoting "the availability of counseling and treatment services available to those affected by a gambling addiction."

The only problem is the state has yet to organize or fund any system by which individuals can receive help for compulsive gambling.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health, which issued the "awareness week" news release with other agencies, hopes to explain to treatment providers this month how they might begin receiving reimbursement in July for gambling therapy.

Those in the field say they've been in the dark thus far.

A counselor on the 24-hour Pennsylvania Gambling Addiction hot line, at 1-877-565-2112, had schedules this week of Gamblers Anonymous meetings in the area, but could provide no information on any treatment available from individual counselors or agencies.

Hundreds of therapists, meanwhile, have been undergoing training across the state in expectation that there will be a need for their services once Pennsylvania's new casinos have been operating longer.

"I think it's great that they're finally getting close, but I wish it had been done a year ago," Jim Pappas, executive director of the private, nonprofit Council on Compulsive Gambling of Pennsylvania, said of the state's efforts to address problem gambling. The council connects callers to a separate hot line, 1-800-848-1880, which includes counseling options, though there's no state financial assistance for them yet.

The state legislation that authorized creation of up to 14 slot machine casinos also allocated a minimum of $1.5 million annually for problem gambling treatment, education and prevention programs.

Health officials plan to roll over about $1.2 million of this year's initial allocation into treatment efforts for the fiscal year starting in July, supplementing more than $1 million in new funding of treatment for 2008-09, according to Robin Rothermel, acting director of the health department's Bureau of Drug and Alcohol Programs.

She's uncertain how many gamblers and their relatives that will assist -- if they lack their own resources to pay for therapy -- and also unsure how many Pennsylvanians will actually seek the outpatient treatment.

It's presumed that about 1 percent to 3 percent of the population has varying levels of gambling addiction, and that increased accessibility of legal gambling -- such as the new casinos -- increases the number of problems. Most gambling addicts only seek help, however, once they're in crisis.

"We're trying to reserve as much of these dollars as we possibly can for treatment," Ms. Rothermel said, noting that the first results are expected this spring from health questionnaires assessing the extent to which Pennsylvanians gamble.

Health and counseling professionals want to know how much the state will compensate them for treating people, what standards they will have to meet in knowledge of gambling, what criteria clients will have to meet to qualify for funding, and other details the health department has yet to release.

"We are waiting to hear what will happen," said Kathleen Zamperini, clinical supervisor for Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, who is one of 30 professionals and students currently taking a University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work certification course on gambling treatment.

The number of gambling problems identified among clients in Pittsburgh has not increased noticeably since casinos began opening in Pennsylvania, Ms. Zamperini said. She noted, however, there has been a small bump in Washington County, where The Meadows racetrack added slot machines in June, and more impact is expected once the Majestic Star casino opens on the North Side next year.

Jim Aiello, Gateway Rehabilitation Center executive vice president of treatment programs, said that even though there are no treatment dollars yet available, the state has shown progress by encouraging more counselors to attain specialized training in gambling. Gateway expects to have several such individuals on staff later this year, when it had none previously.

In the past year, more than 100 counselors in the state have been certified for gambling treatment by the Pennsylvania Certification Board and four others have met more comprehensive standards of the National Council on Problem Gambling. Any of those will be qualified to receive state compensation for treating addicts, along with others who are in the process of becoming nationally certified, Ms. Rothermel said.

Few private insurers presently cover gambling-specific treatment, although clients with other qualifying disorders such as depression or drug dependency can qualify for coverage of counseling. It's expected that more insurers will pay for gambling therapy once the state offers its own coverage of treatment.