[This RFP has been extended to Aug. 10, 2012]
Minnesota is searching for agency help to develop a statewide education campaign on “problem gambling” as the state pursues a plan to fund its share of a new billion-dollar NFL stadium with a large expansion of gambling.
State officials this month approved a plan for taxpayers to pay slightly more than half the cost of a new $975M stadium for the Minnesota Vikings. The state’s tab includes revenue projections from an expansion of so-called e-gambling to bars and restaurants, a move forecast to bring in an addition $1.3B for the state.
Meanwhile, the Minnesota Dept. of Human Services on May 7 released an RFP for an agency to develop a statewide public education campaign to “increase awareness of problem gambling and the available of treatment services,” according to the document.
Tom Pritchard, president of the conservative Minnesota Family Council, blasted the state’s plan to fund football with gambling revenues, arguing that video and electronic gambling is the most addictive form of wagering and prays on “problem gamblers.”
“There are various ways for the state to pay for a new Vikings stadium,” he wrote in an op-ed for Minnesota Public Radio online. “Turning more Minnesotans into problem gamblers shouldn't be one of them.”
The RFP says that Minnesota implemented a compulsive gambling program in 1990 on the introduction of a state lottery, which funds a gambling help line and other programs.
The anticipated campaign utilizes social media, the NoJudgment.com website, workshops and a overall message delivered across various media.
Budget is in the $200K-350K range.
Proposals are due June 8 for the gambling awareness campaign.
Under the gambling expansion plans, Minnesota will become the first state to widely offer electronic “pull-tabs” in bars and restaurants and the only state with electronic (multi-player) bingo, according to the Associated Press. The electronic gaming plans are aimed in part to draw in younger, tech-savvy players.
View the RFP (PDF, link).