The Associated Press

CLEVELAND - The most common problem for people who call the Ohio Lottery's problem-gambling hot line is a form of betting that's not even legal in this state - video slot machines, according to a Plain Dealer review of 15 months of phone call logs.

Not far behind the slots are lottery games, especially scratch-off tickets, the most popular wager sold by the Ohio Lottery Commission. Cards come in a distant third, followed by bingo, casinos and the Internet.

Each month, dozens of people call the hot line looking for help for themselves or friends or relatives. Their losses range from a couple of hundred bucks to tens of thousands of dollars.

Neither lottery officials nor problem-gambling experts are surprised that slots and instant tickets are among the chief problems in Ohio. Both types of gambling require no skill and bettors know immediately whether they've won. They don't have to wait for a drawing.

"The instant ticket does offer instant gratification, so it doesn't really surprise me," said Ohio Lottery Commission spokeswoman Mardele Cohen.

The lottery, which turns 30 years old in August, offers a variety of games ranging from multistate jackpots to traditional numbers lotteries to scratch-off instant tickets with a host of themes and wagers.

Ohio has long flirted with the idea of allowing slot machines. State lawmakers recently fell three votes short of putting a proposal on the November ballot to install slot machines at horse racing tracks.

Calls to the hot line come from nurses, coal miners, airline pilots, attorneys, teachers, bartenders, construction workers, salesmen and truck drivers.

"It's time to put a stop to this," a 47-year-old woman from Cincinnati said when she called the lottery's problem-gambling hot line in September.

In less than a year of plunking money into slot machines at out-of-state casinos, her losses had mounted to between $15,000 and $20,000.

A Lorain County die cutter said he spent his entire paycheck on lottery tickets.

"I have a problem," he said when he called the hot line.

Nationally, between 2.5 percent and 4 percent of adults have a gambling problem, according to Lori Rugle, president of the Ohio Council on Problem Gambling.

"Whatever gambling you have available in the state, a certain proportion of the people are going to develop serious problems," Rugle said.

The lottery provides $250,000 a year to the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services, which in turn gives grants to agencies that train counselors to identify and treat problem gamblers who also have substance abuse problems.