At meetings, pain in grip of addiction

At meetings, pain in grip of addiction
262 people called gamblers hotline in fiscal 2012 for help
Originally published August 05, 2012

By Courtney Mabeus
News-Post Staff

In the back room of a tiny church off Md. 26, a handful of gambling addicts discuss compassion.
The group, which meets weekly on Tuesdays, allowed a Frederick News-Post reporter to observe the gathering under the condition that neither participants' names nor genders would be revealed.  They come from all walks of life. A retiree, an executive. A former office worker whose health nearly failed lost a spouse and a job.  Strawberries and other snacks sitting on a side table sat untouched during the 90-minute meeting. Everyone at the meeting spoke about repairing broken trust, losing self-respect and how they need to keep coming back to keep their gambling in check. "Compulsive gamblers are liars," said one participant, who has been coming to the meetings for four years.  "People don't like to hear that, but it's true."  People in the group were addicted mostly to slots, particularly those in Charles Town. But being an addict means never buying another scratch-off ticket, playing Keno, or even buying a raffle ticket at a carnival or church event. One person won't even go to carnivals anymore.  Their illnesses struck at different times. Some described visits to Las Vegas and Atlantic City that came off without a hitch. They also say their families have a hard time considering gambling a real addiction, even though it has a grip as strong as drugs or alcohol, addicts said.  "I got a high that I can't find anywhere else," one person said. Before long, this person was staying at Charles Town all night, playing slot machines and coming up with lies about where the money went on the "drive of shame" home to their spouse.  "I didn't think of it as money," that person said. Now, the couple have taken out a second mortgage on their home to defray the costs of years of lost savings and are looking at a retirement in which their travel plans are minimized.  As many as 3.4 percent of Marylanders -- a little more than 198,000 people -- are identified as being either problem or pathological gamblers in a telephone survey of 5,975 adults conducted by the universities of Maryland and Baltimore and Gemini Research. The results of the survey were released by the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in 2011.  The Maryland Lottery recognizes some people have a problem and is taking steps to try to help, Director Stephen Martino said.  "It's fun, it's for entertainment, it's solely for discretionary funds," Martino said in a phone interview.  Since Martino took leadership of the lottery in 2010, the agency has hired a responsible play coordinator and helped form the Maryland Alliance for Responsible Gambling, he said.  The state began a voluntary exclusion program in January 2011 that allows people to personally ban themselves from the state's three casinos. In July, the state announced it had registered 100 participants.  A help line number is now also displayed in stores across the state and is published on the back of all paper lottery tickets, Martino said. That number, 800-522-4700, reaches the University of Maryland Center for Problem Gambling. A total of 1,308 people called in fiscal 2012, said Joanna Franklin, the center's director of training. Of those, 262 calls were from people seeking help for gambling problems, 366 were inquiries about the casinos and an additional 208 were people calling with questions about the lottery.  "It does tell us about the visibility of the number," Franklin said. "They treat every call as an inquiry call ... you have a certain number of these calls that are then converted. Every now and then, somebody who has actually called the wrong number has found the right help."  On July 1, the center received a $1.6 million grant, based on money collected from slots, to support the help line, provide clinical training for gambling addiction and prevention, and to publicize the help line, Franklin said.  At the end of three years, the center will make a recommendation to the state as to how to provide treatment for gambling addiction. That comes at a poignant time as the state mulls the addition of new casinos after the opening of Maryland Live in June in Anne Arundel County.
"We have to get the workforce developed before we start saying, come in for help," Franklin said.

The Gamblers Anonymous quiz: Do you or does someone you know have a gambling problem?  1. Did you ever lose time from work or school due to gambling?  2. Has gambling ever made your home life unhappy?  3. Did gambling affect your reputation?  4. Have you ever felt remorse after gambling?  5. Did you ever gamble to get money with which to pay debts or otherwise solve financial difficulties?  6. Did gambling cause a decrease in your ambition or efficiency?  7. After losing did you feel you must return as soon as possible and win back your losses?  8. After a win did you have a strong urge to return and win more?  9. Did you often gamble until your last dollar was gone?  10. Did you ever borrow to finance your gambling?  11. Have you ever sold anything to finance gambling?  12. Were you reluctant to use “gambling money” for normal expenditures?  13. Did gambling ever make you careless of the welfare of yourself or your family?  14. Did you ever gamble longer than you had planned?  15. Have you ever gambled to escape worry, trouble, boredom or loneliness?  16. Have you ever committed, or considered committing, an illegal act to finance gambling?  17. Did gambling cause you to have difficulty in sleeping?  18. Do arguments, disappointments or frustrations create within you an urge to gamble?  19. Did you ever have an urge to celebrate any good fortune by a few hours of gambling?  20. Have you ever considered self-destruction or suicide as a result of your gambling?  Most compulsive gamblers will answer yes to at least seven of these questions.  SOURCE: Gamblers Anonymous  Where to get help  If you feel you may have a problem with gambling, Maryland Lottery offers resources to help. Visit http://mdgamblinghelp.org/ or call 800-522-4700.  Other resources include the University of Maryland Center for Problem Gambling and Gamblers Anonymous. For details about those organizations, visit www.mdproblemgambling.com. Gamblers Anonymous can also be reached by phone at 888-GA-HELPS or online at www.gamblersanonymous.org/ga/. Gamblers Anonymous meets locally in Frederick at the following times:

10:30 a.m. to noon Tuesdays at Mount Pleasant United Methodist Church, 9550 Liberty Road, Frederick.

7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Mondays. Shaeffer Building, 26 E. Second St., Frederick.
GAM-ANON support group: 7 to 8:30 p.m. Mondays, 33 E. Church St., Frederick. Offers an anonymous self-help program for people whose lives have been affected by someone with a gambling problem. www.gam-anon.org/ Sources: Maryland Lottery, Gamblers Anonymous
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