Statistics

Finding comprehensive reliable statistics in the field of problem gambling can be very difficult. Today I read an article (unfortunately the link doesn't work, sorry) regarding senior citizens who reside in the great state of New Jersey (no irony there!) and in this article it stated that 23% of these senior citizens have a gambling problem.

This equates to 340,000 people and remember this poll was just given to those over the age of 55 so there maybe well over 1,000,000 people who suffer with a gambling problem and the state has a population of 8,400,000. Also in the article the average senior citizen spends $14,300 per year in the casinos and $1,160 on lotteries. These are fairly staggering numbers in both the amount of problem gamblers and how much the senior citizens spend on their form of "entertainment".

This means that for every 8 people in New Jersey 1 can be considered a problem gambler. Using this very unscientific formula one can extrapolate for a state like mine California where there are roughly 33,000,000 people so one can say there are well over 4,000,000 problem gamblers and in a state where the annual budget is $2,000,000 to help those 4,000,000 problem gamblers which equals to 50 cents per person. This is downright horrible.

I have stated this many times; gambling/gaming is a HUGE business and is not going anywhere and they gambling corporations and tribal casinos have tremendous power so fighting them to cease operations is a moot point. However; it is in everyone's best interest to ensure there is enough funding to help those ravaged by this industry. Yes, I do remember not so long ago I was part of this industry and I made a very nice living from it which makes my particular situation even harder to understand from an outside perspective.

I knew about the ravages of gambling on "other" people yet I still succumb to the same problem. I let gambling take over my life and ruin it. Thank God I no longer live this way and I do understand there is a much better way to live which is without gambling. This life is so much better than my previous life and I am grateful each and every day for it. It took me 20 plus years to figure this out and it really doesn't matter it has taken me so long at least I finally figure out how to live this way.

The key concept for me is to adhere to the Gamblers Anonymous Program each and every day. I did not know this over fifteen and half months ago which is why I struggled all my adult life with my compulsive gambling addiction. I thought I was smarter than my addiction but I was not; I am not smarter than the GA Program which is why I listen and follow all the guidelines in my daily affairs. This has afforded me to get back my life and become the person I need to be.

Next week in Minneapolis, Minnesota the National Council on Problem Gambling which is headed by someone I have gotten to know over the past year Keith Whyte is holding their Annual Conference on Prevention, Research and Treatment of Problem Gambling. The theme of this year's conference is "Addressing Gambling Problems in Underserved Populations". I am not quite sure what that means but to me based on the previous statistics from the above article it appears that all areas in the United States are underserved. Anyone interested in finding out more about the conference please click here.

I do know one person who is holding a workshop at the Conference on Gamblers Anonymous. Which I believe is a great idea. When I attended the Conference on Problem Gambling last December I spoke to so many people who worked in the gaming industry and who were responsible for the problem gambling duties at their perspective casino and each person had no idea what GA was all about until they attended a meeting.

GA is such a powerful Program and for me is the only tool I know that works in fighting my compulsive gambling addiction. I understand this workshop will go through the GA Program and how one recovers from a compulsive gambling addiction with the help of Gamblers Anonymous. It should be a fantastic workshop and hopefully will open the eyes of many who attend. I do regret not being able to attend but I do know there will be many more of these conferences in the future which I will be a part of.