Gambling Addiction Therapists Expect Surge In Business

Gambling Addiction Therapists Expect Surge In Business
WBNS-10TV

COLUMBUS, Ohio — When Ohio's first casinos open in Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland and Toledo the next few years, state officials estimate $10-$12 million a year will help troubled gamblers.

"I'd say, in one month's time, I lost about $3,000," said a 53-year-old woman who requested anonymity.

She told 10TV's Jerry Revish that she got hooked on gambling about 10 years ago by playing bingo.

"(I was) neglecting my bills, struggling to pay my rent," the woman said.

She said that her habit grew into online gambling, and then lottery scratch-off cards and Internet cafes.

"(I was) neglecting my job, which I almost got fired from," she said. "(I was) leaving for lunch and being gone for hours."

She usually found herself broke the day after she was paid from her job.

"I wanted to be the big shot," she said. "I just couldn't walk away from it."

A 19-year-old who also requested anonymity said he started gambling when he was 12. He first played poker with friends for $1, and then graduated to online poker, Revish reported.

"I took my dad's debit card," he said. "I knew the PIN number and I took it to the bank and withdrew $500 dollars. I did the same thing to my mother."

The teen estimated that he stole at least $5,000 from his parents so he could gamble.

Both people who spoke with Revish are in treatment at Maryhaven's problem gamblers program.

It is estimated that 2-5 percent of Ohio adults are problem gamblers, something that therapists call a disease. Compulsive gamblers often mask deep-rooted emotional and psychological problems, said Paul Coleman, Maryhaven's president and chief executive officer.

"The one thing they have in common is that their brains tend to process stimulus a little differently from the brain of someone who can successfully drink or successfully engage in social gambling," Coleman said.

The therapy sessions usually last about 90 minutes. Patients receive five sessions and take part in group counseling. Nationally, no one can say how effective compulsive gambling treatment is. According to Gamblers Anonymous -- which also provides local services - about 50 percent of the patients succeed.

Gamblers Anonymous suggest that anyone with a gambling problem should work to:

1) Change the people they hang out with.
2) Stay away from environments that will lead them to gambling
3) Avoid credit cards, lottery games and the Internet.

Even with the sound advice and treatment they receive, the compulsive gamblers find themselves fighting the urge to gamble every day, Revish reported.

Part of the constitutional amendment that allowed casino gambling in Ohio mandates that 2 percent of gross revenues go toward problem gambling prevention, treatment and research.