The data includes such factors as gender, age, type of gambling, amount of gambling debt, occupation, marital status, and educational level of the gambler.
According to the report, nearly 7,000 people called 1-800-Gambler help-line asking for help for a gambling problem, or to ask about getting help for a loved one with a gambling problem.
Steve Burton, the program’s director, said data is periodically compiled to give an accurate portrait of the “typical” caller to the help-line.
“A lot of people have an image of a gambling addict as a poor, homeless man, but this disorder really can happen to anyone,” Burton said. “Our data shows most of our callers are married, work full time, and have at least a high school education. Half our callers are women.”
“In three years I managed to lie, steal, lose my husband of 45 years, and go through $300,000 on gambling,” said Ann Klinestiver, a doctor’s wife, retired teacher and recovering compulsive gambler from Milton. “Video lottery machines became the most important thing in my life.”
Buton also said that he has noticed an increase in the types of desperate lengths people will go to in order to get gambling money.
“People have always told us that they often don’t pay their bills or borrow money to gamble,” he said. “But in the last couple years a lot of people have told us they have lost their house or car, or spent insurance settlement money or their inheritance on gambling, so we’ve started keeping track of that.”
“For four years I went to the track every day and gambled an average of $300. I would
beg, borrow, con and steal to get money,” said Kim Murphy, director of Housing & Community Services and recovering compulsive gambler who lost $500,000 in video lottery machines from Nitro.
The report shows that most people in West Virginia who call the help-line are addicted to electronic gaming machines, either in local bars and restaurants, or at one of the state’s four tracks. Most are in debt due to their gambling, and many admit to committing illegal acts, including writing bad checks, to finance their gambling.
Callers to the help-line receive a variety of services, including referral for a free consultation with a certified gambling counselor in their area, referrals for Gamblers Anonymous and Consumer Credit Counseling, and a mailing with a self-help manual. Those interested in help-line data can access the group’s Web site at 1800GAMBLER.net.
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