Oregon
Salinas seeks to direct federal dollars toward fighting gambling addiction – Oregon Capital Chronicle
A gambling addiction, like drugs and alcohol, can wreck a person’s life as they spiral out of control. Someone can lose their house, job and family.
An Oregon study even found gambling addiction can be a factor that leads people into incarceration. Yet no federal funds are devoted solely to help prevent and treat problem gambling, even as federal officials plow money toward drug addiction treatment programs.
U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, D-Oregon, sees a need for the federal government to step up its efforts, especially as online sports betting grows across the U.S. and other types of gambling become more accessible compared to decades ago, when brick-and-mortar casinos and horse racing tracks dominated the gambling landscape.
The National Council on Problem Gambling estimates that nearly 7 million Americans suffer from a gambling addiction, costing the country $7 billion. In Oregon, an estimated 2.6% of adults experience moderate or serious problems with gambling, according to Oregon Health Authority statistics. An estimated 88,000 adults and adolescents in the state have a gambling disorder, and another 180,000 are at risk of developing a problem with gambling, according to health authority estimates.
Salinas is sponsoring a bill that would direct existing revenue toward gambling addiction treatment, prevention and research. The bill, introduced earlier this month, would create the first dedicated stream of funding towards the problem. Co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, the proposal would take half of the federal excise tax revenue from sports betting. It would go toward two purposes: 75% for addiction treatment and prevention programs in states, and 25% toward research.
In an interview with the Capital Chronicle, Salinas said it’s critical to take action.
“It’s always accessible, and you don’t have that kind of barrier of getting to a facility or a place where gambling is located,” Salinas said. “This could be 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. And the bets are endless that you could make. It’s worldwide and global. There has been a huge proliferation and thus a problem that I think we need to address before it really becomes an even larger societal problem.”
Salinas stresses that the bill would not raise any taxes and would simply draw half of the revenue from the existing excise tax on sports wagers. The federal government levies an excise tax of 0.25% on all money wagered on sports, which currently goes into the general fund with no designated purpose.
Online sports betting has continued to increase, from nearly $111 million in fiscal year 2021, up from nearly $39 million the year before.
State revenue currently plays a role in Oregon’s gambling addiction programs. One percent of Oregon Lottery revenues pay for problem gambling services in Oregon, which provides about $7.5 million annually for prevention and treatment services.
And advocates say federal money will help move that work forward and provide much-needed research to guide efforts to fight gambling addiction.
Gina Parziale, executive director of the Oregon Council on Problem Gambling, said the bill is needed and that the government needs to take responsibility as it benefits from the revenues.
“If you’re going to profit from gambling, it’s only responsible to make sure that some of the money that you’re making is going back to lessen the harm,” Parziale said in an interview with the Capital Chronicle.
Parziale said prevention is an important component, especially for young people.
“Now that internet sports betting is legal in Oregon, it’s really a whole new world out there,” Parziale said. “Young people, college students are sitting in their dorm rooms, betting on games on the weekends. We have a responsibility to provide them with financial literacy and guidance on how to participate in these activities in a safer way.”
A survivor’s story
Kitty Martz’s life spiraled out of control from problem gambling.
The Portland resident lost hundreds of thousands of dollars gambling on video lottery terminals. Once a human resources director for a large company, Martz reached the point where she was unemployed and relied upon government aid for food and housing.
“It cost my marriage, my life savings,” she told the Capital Chronicle. “I needed to go to inpatient treatment.”
She got help through Bridgeway Recovery Services in Salem and has been in recovery for 12 years. She said she found a new purpose as executive director of Voices of Problem Gambling Recovery, which provides education and training to people that help others overcome problem gambling.
“Now, my meaning in my life is to be able to speak to how much gambling harm happens, and how there are social costs that are correlated with it, that legislators seem to be overlooking,” she said. “If that’s loss of productivity, divorces, bankruptcies, theft, crime, the more the gambling addiction increases, the more that kind of thing is going to happen.”
A 2021 Oregon Health Authority study that surveyed about 1,000 inmates entering the Oregon Department of Corrections found that over a third has a problem with gambling. And about 8.3% of adults entering custody reported that gambling contributed to their incarceration. That ties problem gambling to about one in 12 adults in an Oregon prison.
At the same time, gambling options are easier to find than a dealer who feeds someone’s drug addiction, Martz said.
“If you’re addicted to fentanyl, you can move to a new neighborhood and it’s not going to be on your drive to work every day or next to your grocery store,” Martz said. “ There’s ways to deselect it from being in your circle of influence in your life.”
For Martz, her recovery is a blessing – and it’s not an easy path for people who make the journey out of addiction.
“Of the probably 300 people I’ve worked with, only a handful of them have ever really recovered from disordered gambling,” Martz said. “So, I feel incredibly blessed to be one of the few people that’s been able to kind of reclaim my life from gambling harm and go on to have it have some meaning. That usually is not the case. The recurrence rate is incredibly high.”
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Oregon
Where Oregon Ducks rank in industry recruiting rankings for 2027 class
With the winter evaluation period of high school football recruiting now behind us, we’ve seen some of the top recruiting sites update their rankings over the past few weeks and start to reset their boards for the 2027 class. In February, On3 shifted players around after getting fresh looks at the class, and 247Sports did the same earlier this week.
So with Oregon’s handful of commits getting new ratings, where does the Ducks’ class rank nationally in this cycle?
If you look at sites individually, it looks different, with 247Sports having Oregon sitting at No. 13 in the nation. At Rivals, though, they take the industry ranking, which factors in their own rankings, plus an average from 247Sports and ESPN.
In the industry rankings, Oregon sits at No. 9 in the nation, with five commitments.
Going into the summer months, the Ducks are in a great spot, leading or among the top schools for a handful of the top prospects in the nation, like 5-star QB Will Mencl or 5-star WR Dakota Guerrant. We will see what movement Oregon can make in the coming months after official visits take place early in the summer.
Contact/Follow @Ducks_Wire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinions.
Oregon
New Data Shows Oregon E-Scooter Injuries on the Rise
Data released by the Oregon Health Authority this week suggests Oregonians are getting hurt on electric scooters more every year.
In recent years, according to OHA, an “e-scooter-specific code” was developed for health care tracking purposes.
From 2021 to 2024, annual injury reports under this code from Oregon hospitals and emergency departments jumped from 211 to 418.
And in just the first nine months of 2025, there had been 509 such reports.
“These injuries are not minor scrapes,” said Dagan Wright, an OHA epidemiologist, in a written statement. “They often involve head injuries, broken bones, and other serious trauma that requires emergency or inpatient care.”
The city of Portland signed contracts with three e-scooter rental companies in 2018, as the transportation craze spread across the country. But e-scooter injury diagnosis codes are relatively new in health care reporting, Wright said in the OHA statement.
“While the overall numbers remain smaller than for other transportation-related injuries, the rapid increase over a short period of time is a clear safety signal,” OHA added.
The agency highlighted the story of Portland e-scooter commuter Daniel Pflieger, who it says was riding a scooter home when he reportedly slid on ice. He bruised several ribs.
Sometimes outcomes are worse. OHA identified 17 deaths linked to electric or motorized scooters since 2018, and seven of those occurred in 2025.
OHA says that e-bikes raise many similar safety concerns as e-scooters. The first full year for which e-bike injuries were coded for reporting was 2023. State data shows 392 reported e-bike injuries that year, 683 in 2024, and 760 in the first nine months of 2025.
“Injuries involving e-bikes and e-scooters share common risk factors—speed, lack of helmet use, roadway design, and interactions with motor vehicles,” Wright said.
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Oregon
Oregon women’s basketball playing for March Madness seeding vs. Purdue
Hear Oregon women’s Graves, Etute and Fiso after loss to Washington
The Oregon Ducks women’s basketball team finishes the regular season with a March 1 home loss to Washington.
At times, the Oregon women’s basketball team has certainly made things much harder on themselves than it needs to be. The team has also produced some miraculous comeback victories, putting itself in position to make women’s March Madness for the second straight season.
March 1, in their final regular season game, the Ducks (20-11, 8-10 Big Ten) finished on the wrong end of yet another tight game to Washington, 70-69. It’s the second time this season Oregon has come back from a double-digit deficit, but ended up losing to the Huskies (20-9, 10-8).
Those aren’t the only times Oregon has come back from a double-digit deficit, like it did in wins vs. Nebraska and USC. The No. 11-seed Ducks are hoping they won’t need heroics in a Big Ten tournament first-round game against No. 14 Purdue this Wednesday.
Watch Oregon basketball on Peacock
“I think our biggest weakness this year has been our inconsistency,” coach Kelly Graves said, “something we’ve battled all year. The great thing is our kids know, regardless of the score, we’ve got a chance. We’ll make it a game at some point. As a coach, it drives you nuts. Hopefully we can figure it out and play more consistent basketball.”
Oregon’s volatility has seen it earn three double-digit comeback wins this year, but also blow several games in the final moments.
Against Wisconsin, the Ducks held a 6-point lead with less than a minute remaining, but lost in overtime. Against Illinois, Oregon held a 21-point lead at halftime, blew it in the third quarter, trailed by eight with minutes to play and somehow eked out a win.
That makes UO somewhat of a wild card heading into the conference tournament this week at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
“It’s definitely (been) a rollercoaster,” guard Katie Fiso said. “A lot of highs and a lot of lows. But one thing that I try to see through all games is our grittiness and our toughness. One thing that stays consistent throughout the season is our toughness and our grittiness. The game isn’t over until the last bell rings.”
The Ducks will be taking on a Boilermakers (13-16, 5-13) team that has struggled against most of the top competition in the league, but played Oregon tight in a Feb. 25 Ducks win.
Graves said when the Ducks went throughout the postgame handshake line after, the Boilermakers felt like their season would end after the regular season. Thanks to some upsets, Purdue is in the Big Ten Tournament as the No. 14 seed.
“We’re playing a team that probably feels like it’s playing with house money,” Graves said. “We’ve got to pick ourselves back up and get it done.”
What channel is Oregon vs. Purdue on today in Big Ten tournament?
Oregon will tip off vs. Purdue on Peacock, with no TV option to watch the game.
Oregon vs. Purdue start time in Big Ten tournament
- Date: Wednesday, March 4
- Time: Around 5:30 p.m. PT
Oregon and Purdue will play around 5:30 p.m. PT at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The first game of the day begins at 12:30 p.m. PT, with the next game 25 minutes after the first game ends, and so on. The Ducks play in the third game of the day, so no official tip time is listed.
Oregon women’s basketball schedule 2025-26
Below are the past five games of Oregon’s 2025-26 basketball season. For the full schedule, click here.
| Feb. 15 | Washington 51, Oregon 43 |
| Feb. 19 | Oregon 80, Nebraska 76 |
| Feb. 22 | Indiana 72, Oregon 65 |
| Feb. 25 | Oregon 71, Purdue 65 |
| March 1 | Washington 70, Oregon 69 |
| March 4 | Oregon vs. Purdue (Big Ten tournament) |
Purdue women’s basketball schedule 2025-26
Below are the past five games of Purdue’s 2025-26 basketball season. For the full schedule, click here.
Feb. 14
Purdue 72, Rutgers 57
Feb. 19
Iowa 83, Purdue 74
Feb. 22
Maryland 99, Purdue 66
Feb. 25
Oregon 71, Purdue 65
March 1
Purdue 67, Northwestern 62
March 4
Oregon vs. Purdue (Big Ten tournament)
Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football and women’s basketball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com.
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