DES MOINES - Calls for help to a state sponsored hotline for problem gamblers skyrocketed last year as Iowa casinos unveiled new slot machines and table games and reported record revenues.

The hotline, 1-800-BETS-OFF, referred 1,932 people to gambling treatment centers around the state in fiscal year 2005, an increase of 43 percent over the year before.

Frank Biagioli, executive officer of the Iowa Gambling Treatment Program, said more state money was devoted to advertising the hotline on television and billboards last year.

"Sometimes it takes them two or three times of seeing it before they get motivated enough to call and check out what's available for help," Biagioli said.

He said their advertising works as a prevention tool as well.

"Our hope is that they'll avoid gambling excessively. If they can stop their excessive behavior at a point where they don't get to that desperation phase, that's a victory there as well," he said.

Besides gambling at Iowa casinos, online gambling has added to the problem, he said.

Based on a survey conducted by the treatment program in 1995, Biagioli estimates around 60,000 Iowa adults, or around 3 percent, are what are considered problem gamblers.

A more recent survey found that about 1 percent of gamblers said money spent on gambling led to financial problems or that time spent gambling negatively affected their personal lives.

"They'll risk the loss of a job, education or a relationship just to keep on gambling, and rely on other people to get them out of debt," Biagioli said.

Wes Ehrecke, president of the Iowa Gaming Association, which represents the 13 racetracks and casinos in the state, said the numbers show more people are getting help, not that more people have gambling problems.

"The vast majority of people in our society can go to a casino for the fun and entertainment that it's intended to be," Ehrecke said.

The gambling industry had advocated for more money to be set aside for Iowa's gambling treatment programs and the hotline.

Previously, 3 percent of the adjusted gross revenue from state-regulated casinos had been set aside for gambling treatment programs. But lawmakers had used about half of that money for other programs, including substance abuse treatment.

Lawmakers moved last year to ensure more money was devoted specifically to gambling treatment.

That boost in funding came as the Iowa Legislature voted to allow for the expansion of the gambling industry in the state. Four new casinos are expected to open in the next two years in Waterloo, Worth County, Riverside and Emmetsburg.

Mike Mahaffey, a member of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission who has opposed gambling expansion, isn't surprised more people are seeking help.

Mahaffey, who serves as the Poweshiek county attorney, said most of the embezzlement cases he has seen in recent years have been tied to gambling debts.

"I have always said that there is a darker side to this whole issue that is problematic," he said.

Chuck Hurley of the Iowa Family Policy Center, said his group's concern is that more state-sanctioned gambling in Iowa means more divorces, suicides and bankruptcies.

He said it appears as if state officials have made peace with that trade-off in order to see more money going into state coffers.

"They know it's happening, but they care more about that revenue than they do about those broken lives," Hurley said.

Contact Charlotte Eby at (515) 243-0138 or {M7chareby@aol.com.