The following commentary, which does not necessarily reflect the views of The Spokesman-Review’s editorial board, appeared Tuesday in The (Tacoma) News Tribune:

When will Washington start helping victims of its gambling policies?

It’s a shame governments can’t be charged with crimes. If they could, Washington state’s indifference to compulsive gambling would be an open-and-shut case of criminal negligence.

Since the late 1980s, Washington officials — legislators, governors, gambling and lottery commissioners — have presided over a staggering expansion of legal gambling. Casinos, lotteries and other public and private gaming enterprises now net more than $1 billion a year in this state.

Officials and casino owners tend to talk about that money in terms of business profits or government revenues. But in the gaming industry, a dollar made is always a dollar lost by someone. Too often, that someone is a problem or pathological gambler — a person who has little or no control of his or her betting habit.

Studies suggest that at least one out of 20 adult Washingtonians fits into these categories — thousands upon tens of thousands of people. Many are desperate individuals who gamble away their families’ rent and grocery money. Some embezzle or commit other crimes to keep on gambling.

Other states that permit extensive gambling mitigate the human damage somewhat by funding treatment programs for problem and pathological gamblers. But Washington state provides no funding whatsoever for treatment, though it doesn’t mind pocketing millions of dollars from the lotteries and gambling taxes.

A private citizen, Jennifer McCausland, did her utmost to change that in the last session, championing a bill that would have created a permanent, well-funded treatment program for compulsive gamblers. She has a deeply personal interest in the issue: Her son, Ben, was killed in a car accident last year, an accident she has every reason to believe was connected to his eight-year gambling addiction.

“Ben’s Bill” ultimately failed, for various petty and inadequate reasons, but McCausland is not letting up. She recently launched a new campaign, “SecondChance Washington,” to build legislative support for the cause. She has begun circulating a treatment-funding bill among lawmakers, trying to enlist sponsors.

But Washington officials should not have to rely on a bereaved mother to help them locate their social consciences. The fundamental problem here is that too few lawmakers can connect the dots between the gusher of gambling money and the social problems gambling creates.

Washington state has a moral obligation to assist the human casualties of its permissive and lucrative gambling policies.

It’s really that simple.