HARRISBURG -- With the billions of dollars that were just bet on the Super Bowl, and with the "March Madness'' college basketball tournament coming up soon, and with Pennsylvania having seven slots casinos with several more opening this year, the Legislature is taking steps to remind people of the dangers of compulsive gambling.

The state Senate's Committee on Community, Economic and Recreation Development, which oversees legalized gambling, today held a hearing on state efforts to combat problem gambling, and said it will highlight the issue by declaring the first week of March "National Problem Gambling Awareness Week,'' and the whole month of March as "Problem Gambling Awareness Month.''

The committee heard from Nanette Horner, director of the state Gaming Control Board's Office of Compulsive and Problem Gambling, and from acting Secretary of Health Everette James on state efforts to try to ensure that gamblers know about, and enter if at all willing, some treatment programs to help them overcome their addictions. The 2004 slots law makes $1.5 million a year available for such programs.

"Problem and compulsive gambling poses a significant public health risk,'' Mr. James said.

Only a tiny percentage of slots players have voluntarily listed themselves on the state's "self-exclusion'' list, which forces casinos to bar them from entering.

So far, 550 people -- 51 percent female and 49 percent male -- have put themselves on the gaming board's "self-exclusion'' list. Of that total, 21 people have removed their names and returned to gambling, said Ms. Horner. Some people on the list are as young as 21 -- the minimum age for entering a casino -- and as old as 81.

Only a gambler, not a spouse or other relative, can put his or her own name on the exclusion list. A person's name remains on the barred list for one year, five years or a lifetime. It's up to each gambler.

Ms. Horner said all the state's casinos have submitted to the board plans for dealing with problem gamblers. They are usually not as easy to identify as a visibly intoxicated or pugnacious person.

If a casino employee overhears a gambler talk about "chasing'' his losses, meaning wagering even more in an effort to get back what he's lost, or if he says something like "my wife's going to kill me,'' the employee might suggest getting coffee with the person or ask him if he wants a brochure on gambling addiction treatment.