11,000 problem gamblers banned from Oklahoma casinos

11,000 problem gamblers banned from Oklahoma casinos
By OMER GILLHAM World Staff Writer

An estimated 11,000 compulsive gamblers are banned from casinos and gaming centers throughout the state as part of a strategy to curb addictive gambling among Oklahomans, officials said.

The Tulsa World sought the number of banned and self-excluded individuals barred from entering casinos and gaming centers.

The World asked for figures from the Osage, Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek) Nations and other tribes, with gaming compacts with the state.

Meanwhile, counselors and recovering gamblers interviewed by the Tulsa World said that compulsive gambling is an addiction with a similar progression of drug or alcohol addiction.

"I started innocently at 8 years old with bingo," said Angela R., 40, a recovering gambler who asked to remain anonymous. "I moved to race-track gambling in Claremore when I was 16 years. I have had a bookie. After awhile, money means nothing when you're in a casino. It's a way to get high and to escape."

The gaming compacts between the state and Indian nations require the tribes to keep a list of the names of banned individuals. Additionally, the compacts require the tribes to post signs within gaming facilities, alerting gamblers to the warning signs of compulsive gambling. Warning signs include frequent trips to the ATM, aggressive behavior or loitering.

Tribes interviewed by the World said they spend thousands of dollars on employee training to spot compulsive gamblers and direct them to help.

"Our approach is to address it conservatively but aggressively," said Mark Fulton, chief operating officer for Cherokee Nation Entertainment. "We don't let it drag on. We act sooner rather than later when we see signs of compulsive gambling in our facilities."

The Cherokee Nation reports 2,650 banned people at its eight facilities, said Amanda Clinton, communications director for Cherokee Nation Businesses.

The list includes 1,307 people who banned themselves for one year, five years or permanently by filling out a self-exclusion form, Clinton said.

The total number includes those banned for reasons other than compulsive gambling such as bad behavior, Clinton said.

The Creek Nation reports 1,378 banned individuals with 660 being self-banned, said Nelson Johnson, with the Creek Gaming Commission.

"We put a lot of effort and money into educating our employees and helping people know the warning signs," Johnson said.

The Osage Nation declined a request by the Tulsa World for their banned numbers.

However, most of the larger tribes in Oklahoma have an estimated 1,000 banned gamblers on their records, said Wiley Harwell, executive director of the Oklahoma Association for Problem and Compulsive Gambling.

As a specialist in gambling behavior, Harwell is the person that many tribes depend upon for in-house training and education for compulsive gambling.

"For the larger tribes, it is easily between 600 and 1,000 each (banned) people," Harwell said. "The smaller tribes have about 200 based on our records and knowledge. Conservatively, there are at least 11,000 banned and self-banned individuals. There is some overlap of names on the lists."

Harwell's organizations developed a self-exclusion form to bring consistency to those wishing to bar themselves from a casino due to compulsive or addictive gambling, he said.

Tribes have their own banning forms but they do not apply to other tribes, Harwell said.

So Harwell developed a form that many tribes accept and which eliminates the need to file a form with each tribe, he said.

Harwell said the tribes are proactive in recognizing and making patrons aware of compulsive gambling behavior. He said the tribes also use their security offices to enforce the banning rules.

"It's not perfect but if someone slips back in and wins a jackpot of $1,200 or more their names are checked against the list and the winnings are forfeited," Harwell said.

Fulton said forfeited jackpots are donated to Cherokee Nation behavioral health programs or given to Harwell's association as a donation for programs.

"When someone is banned, their picture and information is given to our security office who monitors all bannings," Fulton said. "Individuals who are thinking about violating the banning process are told they will face criminal trespassing complaints if they do."


State ranks fourth
Meanwhile, the number of Oklahoma casinos with Las Vegas-style gambling machines has increased to 92 from 63 since 2006, according to the Oklahoma Office of State Finance. Currently, there are 103 casinos with Class III or Class II machines, state finance said.

Class II gambling is essentially electronic bingo while Class III is Las Vegas-style machines.

The annual Indian Gaming Industry Report showed that in 2009 Oklahoma tribes rank fourth nationally in gaming revenue with $3.1 billion and another $442 million in nongaming casino revenue - things such as food, drinks and hotels.

With Oklahoma's tribal gaming revenue up nearly 7 percent, the state has passed Louisiana ($2.9 billion) as a gambling location and could some day pass No. 3 New Jersey ($3.7 billion), the study shows.

The two fastest-growing groups of compulsive gamblers in the Tulsa area are retired people and college students, said Jennifer Wilburn, a therapist specializing in gambling addiction.

"For some it starts with a small winning but it creates a memory," Wilburn said. "The gambler chases that original high but the pleasure threshold keeps getting raised higher and higher."

Compulsive gambling has also contributed to absenteeism and embezzlement on the job to support the gambling, Wilburn said.

Gambling addiction is not limited to a socioeconomic status or gender, Wilburn said.

"You will have someone who earns $300,000 and he can't pay his bills due to gambling," Wilburn said. "There are more affluent people with the problem than you think. There are CEOs with a gambling problem."


Help for addiction
Therapist Janet Cizek said compulsive gambling affects the "pleasure zone" of the brain much like drugs, releasing a flood of endorphins that create a "high" without having to take a drug.

Some people develop an addiction to gambling and "self-medicate" to escape past trauma, Cizek said. Others, like senior citizens, appear to be "medicating" loneliness in old age, Cizek said.

"It's like crack cocaine but more extreme for some," Cizek said. "You can't do $15,000 in cocaine in one day but a compulsive gambler can spend that much and more in one day."

Cizek said there are two basic types of compulsive gamblers: The action gambler who goes for the rush similar to cocaine and the escape gambler whose brain mimics the soothing high of an opiate. Like drug addiction, relapse can occur.

Cizek and Wilburn are business partners with the Center for Therapeutic Interventions. They said untreated gambling addiction can be deadly.

"When a gambler crashes after a binge, he is 20 percent more likely to attempt suicide than others and more likely to succeed," Cizek said.

Treatment for compulsive gamblers typically involves education, counseling and support groups, Wilburn said. In some cases, the gambler must turn over his or her money to someone else until the person is stable enough to have money without gambling.

"We encourage our clients to sign the self-exclusion agreement," Wilburn said. "We also try to get the family involved because they are affected by the gambler's behavior."

Signs of recovery involve a cessation of the gambling compulsion followed by a person being able to handle money and to accept help from others when thoughts of gambling reemerge.

Gambling support groups such as Gamblers Anonymous have seen a dynamic increase in the number of new members and groups, said GA member Linda C., 67.

Modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous, GA was founded in 1957 as a Twelve-Step program that offers abstinence for individuals who gamble compulsively, Linda said.

A decade ago, GA reported only a few groups in Oklahoma but now the fellowship reports 30 groups in Tulsa, Oklahoma City and elsewhere, according to GA's meeting list.

The first step of GA recovery involves a person admitting they are powerless over gambling followed by a willingness to seek a higher power to relieve the compulsion to gamble in steps two and three.

GA members count their recovery in terms of being "clean," which means the person has not gambled or wagered since a certain date.

Linda's clean date is Aug. 23, 2005, which means she has not gambled in six years.

"In the end, I lost everything and I was stealing from my family to gamble," Linda said. "GA gave me hope. I would be dead without this program."

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