Driving to Las Vegas

This morning I drove to Las Vegas for the second time in four days this time I am attending the National Center on RESPONSIBLE Gaming Conference on Addiction and Gambling. As I made the four hour drive by myself I had a great deal of time to reflect but I don't like to reflect because it can set my recovery back. My recovery from the addiction to gambling is the most important thing in my life because without this recovery I have NO life. So one would think going to Las Vegas would present a problem with someone who is a recovering compulsive gambler.

I have mentioned this before Las Vegas has a very special place in my heart because both of my children were born there and my wife and I purchased our first home. I still have some friends in this city and tonight I am looking forward to meeting with one very special friend who I have known for 10 years for dinner.

Instead of reflecting on the past I thought about how Las Vegas which is known as the "Gambling Capital of the World" has really changed this image in the past few years. More money is spent on non-gambling than on gambling. In fact I believe gambling revenues account for 47% of the total revenues and the majority now goes to hotel rooms, dining, shows and "other" non-gambling venues.

There are two types of casinos; one is the destination resort casino and the second is the local casino. All of the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip are destination resort casinos and mostly all other casinos in the United States are local casinos. The one minor exception would have been the casinos on the Gulf Coast they may have been a cross between a destination and local casino but unfortunately they won't be open for a few months due to the Katrina catastrophe.

There are some very large tribal casinos who may think they are destination resort casinos but in fact they are not because most of the people who visit these casinos are there to do one thing which is to GAMBLE. Atlantic City is a local market and they take in tons of money and all of the tribal casinos in California are local casinos. Which type of casino has the higher probability of creating a compulsive gambler? Fairly obvious; the local casino. Most people when they go to Las Vegas are going on a two to five day vacation. Most people when they go to a locals casino are going on a day trip to GAMBLE. I was interested to see if the conference would address these types of casinos and the compulsive gambler. I did not see anything in the conference outline and I did not hear anything in the five hours of sessions I sat through this afternoon.

I was very fortunate to meet up with a friend of mine from Gamblers Anonymous at the conference. This friend is very active in the training and awareness of problem gamblers and has been going to these conferences for the past few years. He also knows a great deal of people on the operation and regulatory side of these gaming companies. We both sat through five hours of sessions and we both came up with the same conclusion. The gaming companies do acknowledge there is a problem for some who gamble but they are not certain how to address these problems.

There are some states that do a fantastic job in the awareness, education and treatment of compulsive gamblers such as Louisiana, Connecticut and New Mexico. However, there are other states such as California who have limited funds so they do not do much in any of these areas. California gaming which encompasses the tribal casinos, lottery, racetracks, and card clubs made more money then any other state yet their funding for problem gambling was $2 million which comes mostly from the lottery organization. Most of the tribal casinos donate to the California Council on Problem Gambling but with all the money that is made it is in my opinion inadequate.

Yes, there will always be compulsive gamblers no matter how much money is spent on training, education and treatment. However, maybe if there is more awareness and treatment the number of compulsive gamblers can go down. With the proliferation of gaming especially casino gaming throughout the country it is inevitable there will be more problem gamblers but something needs to be done. I believe an awareness campaign along with funding for treatment of compulsive gamblers will help. Most compulsive gamblers do not seek treatment because they lack the money and by this time they have developed other disorders such as depression. The compulsive gambler is more likely to commit suicide then any other addiction which is why there needs to be more money available for treatment. Life does not end when someone stops gambling it begins.

Enough of my diatribe! I met my dear friend for dinner this evening and like I mentioned before we have known each other for 10 years. This was the first time we were alone and were able to talk about the last nine months or in my case the last 22 years. My friend was trying to put the pieces together to see if he could have detected my compulsive gambling behavior and he asked me two questions. These two questions stuck in his mind for a long time and for whatever reason they were signs of my compulsive behavior even though I thought I did my best to hide everything. We talked about it and we talked about some things he is going through.

When we finished talking and we parted ways and we both agreed we will get through these situations in front of us and be better persons. I have come in contact with some wonderful people in the past nine months and I have had some wonderful people in my life for a long time. I took some of these people for granted but I am truly blessed to be in the company of these fantastic people. My friend who I met tonight is a great person and I do not mean this lightly. He is a man of integrity, honor and just a down right good person. I thank God for blessing me with his presence.