Gambling Addiction

A. Gambling addiction1. Also known as compulsive gambling - According to helpguide.com-- is a type of impulsecontrol disorder.
1. Person cannot control impulse to gamble
2. All person can think about
3. All person wants to do
4. Continue to gambling whether winning or losing

5. Even has a medical term- Ludo mania

B. Statistics on Gambling Addiction1. The National Council on Gambling states:
2. Approx. 2 million Americans or 1% of the population are
pathological gamblers
3. Another 2 to 3% of the population are considered to suffer from
Gambling Addiction.
4. 85% of Americans have gambled at least once in their lives
5. Gambling occurs in higher income lifestyles more than lower
income
6. People in the US spend 5 billion annually on gambling
C. Why would a person want to gamble?
1. Give a person some excitement
2. To feel the rush or experience high levels of endorphins
3. Numb unpleasant feelings
4. Boredom, loneliness

5. Form of relaxation from daily stress

6. Attempt to solve money problems
D. To find out if you or a person you know has a gambling problems ask yourself these
questions
1. Do you lie about your gambling?
1. Do you have trouble controlling your gambling?
2. Do you gambling even though you know your are broke?
3. Are others worried about you and your habits?
E. If you were able to answer yes to any of these questions there may be a problem
F Risk factors to family members and the addict:
1. Money problems- family members learn that savings, assets, and
property are gone
2. Emotional Problems From Isolation- Addict will isolate themselves from
family weakening relationships and ignore their responsibilities
3. Physical and mental health problems: include poor sleep patterns,
headaches, ulcers, depression, and anxiety.
4. Impact on children- when parent or guardian has gambling problem,
children become forgotten, depressed or angry.
1. Children can feel they are the cause of the addiction
2. Or draw attention away from the addict by misbehaving
5. Gambling can lead to emotional and physical abuse- the stress of losing
and growing debts can cause addict to become physically and
verbally abusive.

Share an example of a person with Gambling Addiction:

1. Justyn Larcombe, from England

2. Earned 6 figure salary
3. Had a $612,000 dollar home
4. Drove a $40,800 Porsche
5. Family would holiday in Italy and Spain
6. He would dine out with friends frequently
7. Life was nearly perfect
G. His background includes:
1. Distinguished career in the Army,
2. Patrol Commander in Northern Ireland
3. Major during the Kosovo crisis
4. Afterward moved in to finances
5. Worked for an insurance broking firm in London
H. First bet was for $6.80 on a rugby match he won and doubled his money.
1. The thrill of the win spiraled out of control from there
2. Within one year he was betting thousands every weekend to recreate the rush
of winning a bet.
3. Further bets included:
1. $23,120- on a single tennis match
2. $6,800- on a soccer game
3. $4,080- on the Gold Cup
4. Total is at $34,000
I. Prior to his addiction Justyn's wife gave up her job of managing family hotel and sold it
for $95,200 which she entrusted to him.
II. Plus the family was planning on moving to a larger home with the arrival of their second

son- saving $136,000 for a down-payment

J. While looking for a home the family rented a small cottage
1. Unknown to his wife he was gambling away the small fortune of his wife's
money from the sale of the hotel and the down-payment.
K. As the addiction progressed Justyn became neglectful of responsibilities as a father:
1. He was taking one son, with physical and mental disabilities, to play on
swings at playground
2. Wanted to check on a bet
3. Bet was not in
4. Played roulette to recover the money he lost
5. Two hours later he discovered the child in the car with tear stained face
had cried himself to sleep
L. Not long afterward his wife discovered a bank statement on his desk and learned
everything.
1. She left soon after finding the truth of their fiances
2. Filed for divorce, took their two sons
3. Justyn had used his business credit card for gambling
4. He had to resign from brokerage company because of personal use on the card
1. He had lost?
1. His career
1. His family
2. Possibility of a larger home
3. His Porsche and wife's Mercedes
4. And gambled away $1,020,000

M. Even after all of the loss in his life he continued to gamble

1. When he was facing eviction from a very small cottage
2. All of his belonging fit into one black garbage bag
3. Justyn realized he had a very serious addiction.
N. Treatment programs are available for those with gambling addiction.
1. Gamblers Anonymous offers group therapy and support
2. Cognitive behavioral therapy works towards identifying and correcting the
mental reasons for gambling.
3. Psycho dynamic therapy assists the addict to identify the core reasons for the
gambling addiction
4. Family therapy aides in providing education to the addict and family along with
discarding gambling behaviors
O. Justyn demonstrated all of the behaviors of a person with Gambling Addiction.
1. He had a compulsive disorder
2. He could not control his gambling behaviors
1. Drained all of the family finances
2. Very secretive of his activities
3. Ignored his responsibilities as husband and father
4. Lied about where the money was disappearing to
5. And finally lost everything
P. But in the end he became aware he had a disorder and found help.

Bibliography
articlebase. Article Base, 2008. Web. 15 Oct. 2013
dailymail.co.uk. Dailymail UK, 2013. Web. 11 Oct. 2013
dhs.state.mn. Minnesota Department of Human Services, 2012. Web. 15 Oct. 2013
gamblingaddiction. JNEXT JGLOBAL GT. 2013. Web. 15 Oct. 2013
helpguide. Helpguide. 2013. Web. 11 Oct. 2013
livestrong. Livestrong Foundation. 2013. Web. 15 Oct. 2013
ncpgambling. National Council on Problem Gambling. 2013. Web. 15 Oct. 2013
wikipedia. Mediawiki. 2013. Web. 11 Oct. 2013