Local News Article

Here is the article I referred to a few days ago with a local newspaper; you can click on the link above to see the article in its entirety.


Former Pechanga controller-turned-embezzler speaks out on his compulsive gambling

By: JOSE CARVAJAL - Staff Writer

Paul Del Vacchio still remembers his first bet.

He was 8 or 9 years old and it was for baseball cards in a game he and his friends had made up.

"I remember winning a big stack of cards," Del Vacchio, now 40, said this week. "It was a feeling of 'This is cool; this is cool.' "

From that high, he went to the low of losing those cards two weeks later.

That was the beginning.

From there, Del Vacchio would slowly evolve into a compulsive gambler.

He bet on horses at a racetrack when he was 12. He and a friend lost $13,000 to a bookie at 18.

He made several thousand dollars on a weekend trip to Atlantic City, N.J., while he was going to college in Maryland.

He later discovered the discreet and easily accessible world of Internet gaming.

And that was the beginning of the end.

Last month, Del Vacchio pleaded guilty to embezzling almost a half-million dollars from the Pechanga Resort & Casino, where he had been working as controller. The money, he says, went to feed his gambling addiction.

Del Vacchio is scheduled to be sentenced next month and, per a plea deal with the judge in his case, the most the Temecula resident will spend in state prison is four years ---- not the 21 years he faced had he gone to trial and been convicted.

Even with a stay in prison looming large, Del Vacchio is at relative peace.

That's all out of his control, he says, and all he can do is continue down the road to recovery.

He's got the support of his family, he says, and he's getting help through Gamblers Anonymous and a professional treatment center.

As he's bracing himself for prison, Del Vacchio is speaking out about his problem.

He wants to draw attention, he says, to a serious problem that's going relatively unnoticed.

With gambling becoming more and more accessible through the Internet and tribal casinos, millions of Americans every year are falling into the same trap he did.

He hopes his coming forward could prompt someone to seek help before they do something drastic, like he did.

"If it helps one person not do the things I've done, then it's all worthwhile."

'No control'

Del Vacchio, who is originally from New Jersey, had been hired to work at a casino in Las Vegas when he discovered how easy it was to gamble online.

He had moved to Nevada in 1994 because he had liked the climate and because he was a gambler. He thought that if he got close to the action, he wouldn't have to be a part of it.

And it was working.

As an accountant for a casino, Del Vacchio said, he couldn't risk being seen in one for appearance's sake. He didn't want to earn a professional reputation as a gambler who works in a casino, he said, so he didn't do much of it.

Then he found an Internet sportsbook and it offered good odds and all the discretion he needed.

At first, he said, he thought it was something he could do in moderation.

But he was wrong."I thought if I could control myself, control my gambling, that I could win," Del Vacchio said. "Unfortunately, I completely fooled myself because there was no control.

"As if it were a drug, he got a high from gambling, he said, and, just as it is for drug addicts, the next high had to be better than the last.

He had to continue to get that rush and the stakes got higher. Soon, he was betting thousands of dollars on sporting events.

Del Vacchio got a job at Pechanga several years ago, where he eventually became the controller.

At the same time, even though he was making six figures a year, his gambling debt had grown to as much as $700,000.

So when he happened to discover that he could move thousands of dollars from the casino's account to his own without it being readily apparent, it didn't dawn on him, he said, that he shouldn't do it.

The gambling ---- the need for that high ---- clouded his judgment, Del Vacchio said.

"It was wrong, but at that point in my life I didn't know any better," he said. "I thought, 'Wow, I can live in this fantasy life. I can continue to gamble and live a normal life (as a) husband and father. I can have the best of both worlds.'

"It wasn't even a decision. It was just something that I did. It was there and I took advantage of it.

"It wasn't until he had been caught last year that he realized he truly had a gambling problem.

"That's when it actually dawned on me." Del Vacchio said. "'I said for the first time, 'I am a compulsive gambler.' Once I said the words, it was like this burden came off of me. Even though it was the worst day of my life, it was the start of something.

And then three days later, I found Gamblers Anonymous.

"For a guy who has so much structure in his life and can exert his willpower whenever he wants to in other facets of his life ---- he recently ran in the Los Angeles Marathon and he hasn't eaten a bite of red meat in 17 years ---- Del Vacchio said it's mind-boggling that, in the case of gambling, he can't help himself.

"When it comes to gambling, I just can't control it," he said.

A nation of gamblers

According to experts, the more gambling becomes accessible, whether through casinos or through the Internet, the more it becomes a problem for those who can't control themselves, like Del Vacchio.

And with perceptions of gambling what they are these days, the experts say, identifying compulsive gambling as a problem and getting help isn't easy.

"Americans have always liked to gamble," said Keith Whyte, executive director of the National Council on Problem Gambling in Washington, D.C. "We've always been a risk-taking society. But with the unprecedented growth of legalized gambling and the glamorization of gambling in the media ---- particularly on TV ---- we're seeing real changes in the way people perceive gambling.

"Whyte says that between 3 percent and 4 percent of American adults meet the criteria for problem gambling in a given year. That adds up to between 6 million and 9 million adults, he said.

And the devastation this small segment of the population can cause, Whyte said, can be measured in more ways than just counting growing gambling debts.

"It's a problem a lot like serious drug abuse," he said. "It's a real small percentage, but they can inflict a lot of damage.

"The council estimates that problem gambling resulted in a societal loss of about $6.7 billion last year, Whyte said, which factors in, among other things, money lost because of job loss, divorce and bankruptcy.

The council, he said, isn't anti-gambling: "We're just pro-responsible gambling.

"The problem is, Whyte said, people aren't necessarily seeing gambling as being that big a problem. That means there are fewer education programs and there are fewer places where people can get help, he said.

According to Whyte, of the 48 states that have legalized some form of gambling, only 22 of them have devoted some of their gaming revenue to services for people with gambling problems. California recently jumped on that bandwagon, he said, but it isn't yet devoting enough money to services.

"There could and should be more," Whyte said.

Informed choice

The thing is, says Marc Lefkowitz, director of counselor training for the California Council on Problem Gambling, gamblers don't wear their addiction on their sleeves like other addicts do.

Looking at drug addicts and alcoholics, he said, you can tell when they've consumed too much. But you can't look at a gambler and see that they have just lost thousands of dollars on a bad bet.

"There's no drug testing for gambling," Lefkowitz said.And when things get out of control for gamblers, the situation can get really bad.

Not only can gamblers turn to crime like Del Vacchio did, Lefkowitz says, problem gamblers attempt and successfully complete more suicides than any other kind of addict.

"They create incredibly large financial problems," Lefkowitz said. "There's no overdose in problem gambling ---- you can only drink so much. But gamblers can, say, refinance their homes and take out another $200,000. It creates heavy financial problems.

"The key to getting a handle on this growing problem and keeping people from turning to crime or suicide, he said, is education.

Gambling is where smoking and alcohol were several decades ago, Lefkowitz said. People need to learn that there is potential for addiction and that gambling is probably not for everyone, he said.

And then there's the dearth of treatment programs.

"There's not a lot of treatment programs for gambling," Lefkowitz said. "They're just starting now. We find that the best results are with treatment, Gamblers Anonymous and family help.

"Programs such as Gamblers Anonymous and treatment centers such as A Better Tomorrow in Murrieta are out there.

But they are far and few between. A Better Tomorrow, which started as an alcohol and drug treatment center and recently started a gambling program, is the only problem gambling treatment center in Southwest County, according to its owners.

Del Vacchio recently began treatment there. He says that, with the treatment and counseling he gets there, coupled with his involvement in Gamblers Anonymous, it's easier to fight back the urges he still gets to gamble.

He'd rather focus on his recovery, he said, than his impending trip to prison.

"I know that as long as I don't gamble and I work my recovery to the best of my ability, life will get better and all this other stuff will take care of itself," he said. "It's out of my control.

"Del Vacchio's last bet was on Feb. 28, 2005, just days before he was arrested.

It was a $5,000 wager on an NBA game, he says.

Unlike his first bet, Del Vacchio says, he lost this one.

Contact staff writer Jose Carvajal at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2624, or jcarvajal@californian.com.

Do you have a gambling problem?

Following are yes or no questions that can help you determine if you may be a problem gambler.

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 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 or trouble?

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

To get help-

Gamblers Anonymous holds meetings nationwide for those who have or think they have a gambling problem. For a list of meeting times and places, go to www.gamblersanonymous.org. You can also contact GA at (213) 386-8789.-

For family and close friends of those with gambling problems, Gam-Anon also holds regular meetings nationwide. For a list of meeting times and places, go to www.gam-anon.org/gamanon/index.htm. You can also contact Gam-Anon at (718) 352-1671.-

Counseling and treatment services are also available at A Better Tomorrow, 41640 Corning Place, Suite 104, Murrieta. For more information, call (800) 517-4849.