When fun turns into nightmare

When fun turns into nightmare
Gambling addiction growing in Baja California
Omar Millán


TIJUANA – Roxana used to spend up to six hours a day sitting in a chair glued in front of the “little machine with unicorns” at Caliente Casino.

Oblivious to her surroundings, the time of day, her children, her work and her recent divorce, the 42-year-old woman sat as if hypnotized, waiting to win a fortune.

She lived this way for three years, until one day last March when she took 15 tranquilizers to kill herself, hounded by debts and remorse at not being a good mother to her two children.

She was rushed to the Red Cross Hospital and then to Tijuana’s Mental Health Hospital, where she was diagnosed as being a compulsive gambler, a mental disorder similar to drug addiction or alcoholism.

According to the national association of casino owners, 465 betting and gaming centers with “little machines” operate in Mexico, 44 of them in Tijuana.

Despite the recession, the Mexican gaming industry invested $200 million to open new casinos in the country last year. The major players include Grupo Caliente from Tijuana, Play City (from the giant television network Televisa), Sports Book and Yak.

Most patrons go there for occasional entertainment, without problem, but some gradually fall into the grip of addiction.

“You start out having fun, you forget everything, relieve stress,” said Roxana. “Then you want to recover all the money that you lost. Sometimes I would win, but I wanted to recover more, then I would begin to lose again.”

Roxana, who requested that her last name not be used, said she began this vicious cycle five years ago when she started going to San Diego County casinos at least twice a month.

Then, after casinos with those “little machines” opened in Tijuana, she began to spend every weekend there, and occasionally, when she managed to scrape together money, on weekdays after work as a medical assistant.

“I won 11,000 pesos once (about $915), but I lost them that same night,” she said. “I remember that I had to walk home because I didn’t even have enough to pay a taxi.”

There’s little research on the number of people who suffer from compulsive gambling in Baja California.

However, Jorge Octavio Maldonado, the director of Tijuana’s Mental Health Hospital, the only facility of its type in the city, said the problem grows every day.

He said the increase in the number of gambling facilities in the city -- combined with the stresses of living in a troubled urban environment during a tough economy -- is an explosive cocktail.

“All of a sudden they have something that makes them feel good, an escape valve that disconnects them from their problems: The fantasy of winning millions, which then becomes an obsession,” Maldonado said.

One a recent weekend, the tourist strip of avenida Revolución was virtually empty at midnight.

However, a gambling center where clients can place bets and play on machines, between Third and Fourth streets, was jammed.

Inside, TV screens blared various sports games, there was lively music, and everything was painted in bright colors. And then there were the patrons: euphoric, smiling, frustrated.

Most only stared at a machine’s screen; they didn’t want to be distracted or answer anyone’s questions. Many had notebooks and scribbled down numbers, combinations, secret formulas.

At dawn, one mechanic acknowledged that he lost his entire paycheck; another man, two weeks’ worth of pay. A woman asked for money for public transportation after playing for more than five hours “without stopping to even go to the bathroom.” Others, mentally adding and subtracting the amounts they had when they arrived, began to head home.

“There’s a lack of information about this disease. Many people still don’t know that they are sick until they see the damage they are causing their families,” said Arturo, the coordinator of a support group that helps gamblers, called Grupo 2000.

It’s the only one of its type in the city. The same members continue to attend meetings there since it began in September 2008, despite the anonymous testimonials that talk of hundreds of people who have lost fortunes in one day, millions of dollars, like Arthur himself.

At one recent meeting, some shared their experiences.

“I am aware of my addiction to gambling, but the anxiety gets to me,” said Leo, 43. “It’s been a week since I have gone to gamble but it’s only because I don’t have the 1,000 pesos in my pocket, if I did, I would already be there.”

He said that he once owned ten import companies in Tijuana, had a nice house in an upscale neighborhood and had a wife and four children who loved him.

He said his gambling addiction cost him everything.