PROBLEM GAMBLING

Problem gambling isn't just a problem of the younger generation of high flyers or high risk takers, but also a danger for seniors. The percentage of seniors who gamble has risen for about 35 per cent in the mid-1970s to around 75 per cent today and 2.1 per cent have significant problems with gambling.

Gambling is a problem when it adversely affects relationships, family, friends, physical, social and mental health, employment, or finances.

However Options for Change's Community Addictions Treatment Services provides a Problem Gambling Program which can help, whatever the person's age.

For example, some people think gambling only means casino gambling. But in fact gambling occurs in many forms, including lotteries, bingo, various tickets, race track and sports betting, stock market speculation and slot machines.

* "Chasing losses" - gambling more often and for higher stakes to "win back" lost money * Having frequent, unexplained absences from home or work

Michael Burke, of Brighton, looks on during a compulsive gambling workshop at the National Association of Social Workers at the Kellogg Conference Center in East Lansing, Michigan, on Thursday, May 15, 2008.

Finally, it would all be over. The house of cards he had built to support his gambling habit had grown into a $1.6-million tower of debt that was about to collapse. There would be no more lying, no more stealing. He realized it now. He was stealing - from his daughters' college money and his clients' trust funds.

Like so many problem gamblers, he had started with money he could afford. But that was long ago, before he lost control, before he gutted his successful Howell law practice and the trust of his family and clients to fuel his habit.

It's difficult to estimate exactly how many people have a gambling addiction. There is some fresh evidence that it follows the growth in America's aging populace.

A new study by Wayne State University suggests that the problem may be more intense among seniors: For example: 18 percent of Detroiters older than 60 in the study who visited a local casino showed signs of addictive gambling behavior.

Unlike alcohol and drug addicts, whose diseases are recognized as physiological and have established treatment programs, gambling addicts are usually faced with the shame that comes from thinking they should just be able to exert some willpower and stop. Their addiction is invisible, and they may not seek help until their world comes apart.

Experts estimate that between 2 percent and 5 percent of the overall population has a problem. Each year, a little more than 2,000 people are referred for treatment or to Gamblers Anonymous meetings after calling in to the Michigan Department of Community Health Problem Gambling Helpline. More than 300 each year ask to have themselves put on the Disassociated Persons List, which bans them from Detroit's three casinos.

That may be just a fraction, said James McCurtis, DCH spokesman. "A lot of times, people don't recognize that they need help. It's a denial."

"Usually when people come in to see me, they've reached some kind of crisis point," said Denise Phillips, who has counseled problem gamblers for more than a decade, working in Grosse Pointe, the Bloomfields and Plymouth, Mich. "It's such a hidden disease. We're about 20 years behind substance abuse as far as awareness in the community. There isn't any alcohol being ingested where you can smell it. It can't be detected with a blood test or a urine test. There's no saturation point - as long as there's money left to gamble with, he can continue."

To help identify those with a problem, study author Peter A. Lichtenberg, director of the Institute of Gerontology at WSU, used the following two questions:

People with lower incomes, poor physical or mental health, poor support networks or pessimistic attitudes were more likely to say yes to both, Lichtenberg said. Men, especially widowed men, were at the most risk. The study was the largest ever done in an urban area, he said; fitting, since Detroit is the biggest city with this much gambling available, he said. A little more than 1,400 adults participated.

"We found that a lot of people believe that they will win money when they go to the casinos," he said.

"Two characteristics shared by all gamblers," he said. "We all think we're smarter than anyone else. And we all think we've been touched by the hand of God. It's the illusion of skill that carries gamblers to their destruction."

Burke practiced law for 25 years in the community, serving on the zoning board of appeals, the local United Way board, the Brighton Hospital board. He worked on three millage elections. A recovering alcoholic who had been sober for decades, his private practice included many who had similar issues.

"I was not the typical person people think of as having a gambling problem. I was nominated as citizen of the year in this community. Who would expect a citizen of the year to steal money from his clients' trust accounts?" he said. But he did. "I traded one addiction for another."

The lies began almost immediately. He helped to close a real estate deal with a client in Florida, and the two took a trip that included time at Bahamas casinos - a part of the visit he neglected to mention to his wife, Jane.

When the Burkes flew to Las Vegas, he counted cards and gambled heavily to get high roller status, which they enjoyed. But on the flight home from their next trip to Lake Tahoe, he was careful to flash a stack of thousands of dollars in cash that he claimed were his winnings. In fact, he had withdrawn the money before they left, specifically to convince her that they should make another gambling trip.

And so it went for a while, with big-spending trips to Vegas interspersed with months of not gambling at all - until Casino Windsor opened in 1994.

He started visiting the casino several times a week, losing a few hundred dollars each time, telling his secretary and his family that he was visiting clients.

"In the beginning, it was just fun. I'd get away. It was the same kind of denial I used when I was drinking," Burke said. Ironically, every day, he'd pass a giant billboard on I-96 that proclaimed: "If you are spending more money than you can afford, you have a problem."

"I saw that sign every day," he said. "I'd think, how can people DO that? The first time I drove by that sign and applied it to me - it was too late. I was done."

After a year, he stopped going to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. It didn't seem like a big deal at the time, he says, but he says now he sees it was because the spirit of the meetings clashed with the lies he was telling his family and coworkers to cover his gambling.

Then the money started to run out. And he started doing the only thing he knew to get it back: He gambled more.

"Once a person is hooked, it's been my experience that they'll lose everything," he said. "It takes a crisis. We hide it. The difference between gambling and drinking is that gambling is a very easy addiction to hide.

"All I ever dreamed about - I just wanted my money back. I was going to quit. Of course, if I won the money back, I wouldn't have quit."

Burke sat in Casino Windsor, nursing a cup of coffee, trying to figure a way out of his money problems. It had been six years since he started playing at the casino, and he had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars on blackjack. A woman walked by, distributing tokens for the machines. On a lark, he bought some, and put $10 in a $5 slot machine. He won $12,500 on the first hit.

"All of a sudden, God spoke to me," he said. "He said, `Mike, the answer to all your problems is the slots.'

"Over the next couple of months, I went from the 5s to the 10s to the 20s to the 100s. You never go back. It has nothing to do with winning.

"When I sat in front of that slot machine, it was my vodka. It was my medication. It was the only time I felt safe. It was the only time I felt I couldn't be hurt. When I was away from the slot machine, I was terrified."

And it was his downfall. The money started pouring out of his accounts. He emptied his daughters' college funds. He borrowed astronomical sums from clients. He gutted trust funds. He forged his wife's name on a mortgage on their home.

"I swear to you, my thought was not that I was stealing money," he said. "I was using it so that my conduct wouldn't be disclosed. I was going to put the money back when I won it. It was insane."

But of course, that's not what happened. And after a year of waking up at midnight and being unable to return to sleep until 5 a.m., obsessed with trying to figure out how to solve his problems, he realized that he couldn't.

He ended up in his office, staring out at Grand River Avenue and waiting for the end.

"I was sitting at my desk. It was late at night. I had a .38 up to my head and cocked. It was a gun from a case I was investigating," Burke said. "It was the single greatest feeling I ever had in my life. I knew it was going to be over. I knew it was going to end. I've never had a better feeling about anything."

He turned to look at the credenza behind him and saw a picture of his family. They would forgive him for the suicide, he was sure. But then a thought struck him: What happened when the true extent of his financial frauds came to light? When they were slammed with all the bills, the missing money, the people calling for the million-plus he had stolen? They had no idea he had a problem, let alone something this huge.

In the end, he said, he couldn't do it. Not because of himself, but because the additional burden on his family seemed like it would be too much to bear. So instead, on March 30, 2001, he turned himself in - to the state bar, and to the attorney general's office. The final tally of what he owed: $1.6 million.

"Then I had to come home and tell my family. That was the lowest point of my life," he said.

After he told her, Burke's wife appeared to be in a state of shock. When his daughter Katey got home from shopping for a prom dress, he told her as well.

"Her body was shaking, tears running down her face, but there was not one audible sound," he said. "When I was done, she turned to my wife and said, `Are you going to allow this man to remain in this house?'"

His older daughter Amy was upset, but supported him, telling him that someday it would be all right again.

He was arraigned the next morning. That afternoon, he was in the hospital with chest pains, and within two days, he had triple heart bypass surgery. Before the surgery, a Catholic priest was sent in to give him last rites.

"I didn't want to be forgiven," Burke said. "I wanted to die, and I wanted to go straight to hell."

He spent nine days in the hospital. Two months later, he started a 23-month sentence in Jackson Prison.

"I was absolutely terrified every day I was there. I saw a guy commit suicide after his wife left him, jumping from the fifth tier onto a pool table," he said. But his family sent him piles of books on gambling addiction, and he set about learning everything he could.

"If it turns out that I go to my grave without my wife being able to trust me, I can live with that," Burke said. "I just want to be with her. She's my best friend."

"I don't bash casinos. I have nothing against casinos," he said. "Casinos are like sharks. Sharks eat things because they're sharks. Casinos take money because they're casinos. It's their business."

Burke, who was disbarred almost immediately, now spends his time speaking to problem gamblers, community organizations, social workers and anyone else who will listen about gambling addiction. His book, "Never Enough" (American Bar Association, $29.95), was published recently, detailing his life story. The proceeds will go directly to the victims he has yet to repay.

"It was so painful writing that down. I still have night terrors," he said. "... But now I'm in a position to talk to people. Every day of my life today is an absolute blessing."

MONDAY, May 12 (HealthDay News) -- An estimated 750,000 American teens and young adults are problem gamblers according to researchers at the University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions.

Problem gambling is defined as gambling associated with three or more negative consequences, such as gambling more than you intended or stealing money to gamble.

The national telephone survey of almost 2,300 respondents, ages 14 to 21, found that 2.1 percent were problem gamblers, which works out to a nationwide total of about 750,000 young problem gamblers, the researchers said.

They also found that 11 percent of respondents gambled twice a week or more -- considered frequent gambling -- and that 68 percent of respondents said they'd gambled at least once in the past year.

The findings of the survey, conducted from August 2005 through January 2007, are available online and were expected to be published in the June 2008 issue of theJournal of Gambling Studies.

"In a society where young people are increasingly exposed to gambling influences, there is cause for concern," principal investigator John W. Welte said in a prepared statement.

"As might be expected, all statistically significant results showed that greater gambling involvement is associated with aging into an adult status. In fact, gambling may be associated with the transition into adulthood," said Welte, a senior research scientist at the Research Institute on Addictions.

The study found that gambling increased with major life changes such as getting a job, leaving school, living independently from parents, and marriage. Young people who worked full-time were more likely to gamble, those who weren't in school were more likely to gamble frequently (twice a week or more), and those who lived independently were more likely to gamble and to be problem gamblers.

"As far as gender, it seems likely that females' gambling involvement tends to emerge in adulthood, while male involvement can be high in adolescence. We found identical problem gambling rates for adult males and young males (4 percent). We found adult females' gambling rates were much higher (3 percent) than that of young females (less than one-tenth of a percent). In other words, problem gambling is almost non-existent among female adolescents and young adults," Welte said.

Black youth were less likely to have gambled than white youth. But if black youth gambled, they were more likely to be frequent gamblers -- 30 percent vs. 12 percent.Asians had the lowest gambling involvement.Native Americans were more likely than whites to be frequent gamblers (28 percent vs. 9 percent) and were more likely to score higher on measures of problem gambling. This may be a reflection of the rapid spread of legal gambling on Native American reservations.In general, young people with low socioeconomic status were less likely to gamble. However, if they did gamble, they were more likely to be problem gamblers.Young people in the highest socioeconomic groups had the lowest gambling involvement, the survey found.

When some gamblers hit bottom, they are surprised to find a trap door that drops them even lower. Advertisement

While Gina (not her real name) was hitting the Keno parlors regularly, her slide into gambling hell escalated in October 1995 when she won $21,000 playing a game.

It proved what she "knew" all along - that she could "figure out this game and make it her career." Prior to the big win, she stayed up late figuring out different strategies that would make her rich.

"The $21,000 win started a huge win streak," Gina said. "I couldn't lose. I probably ended up winning about $80,000 over a couple months." She had thoughts about quitting work. Gina felt heady, on top of the world. It was the best and worst time of her life.

"I got the ultimate high. I felt like I could do anything. I'd buy my friends rounds of drinks. I was so grandiose. It hooked me."

She bounced checks, skipped paying bills, borrowed money from family and friends. Money was her hypodermic needle. It had no value but became a way to get her fix. A dollar bill was no different than a hundred.

When some family and friends pointed out their concerns, she went to counseling.

"It was more for them than me. I didn't want to stop gambling but thought I could get it under control. I would go see the counselor and then go gambling. The only thing it really did was make it a secret. I wouldn't tell anyone where I was going."

Gina said her dad's 1999 death fueled her downward descent. Gambling became her escape from the loss. Rather than grieve, she'd get lost in her Keno numbers.

She continued to lose money and had her car repossessed. She failed to pay the $50 needed to keep her X-ray technician certificate current and forged one. Gina got caught and lost her career.

She lost another job when she told her employer she hadn't received her paycheck in the mail. They then cut her another one but later discovered she cashed both.

Gina lost her apartment; and, subsequently, her car became home until her sister agreed to take her in.

"I always had hope that this next dollar would make a difference. If I won, everything would be OK. I would pay everyone back."

She didn't hit that big one. Everything was not OK, and things only got worse from there.

"I used a razor blade to scratch off the name. I put in my own and took them to the Keno place, where they knew me and cashed them."

She got five years probation and promised to pay the $6,000 restitution. Attending Gambler's Anonymous was also mandated. Gina said she felt lucky.

Despite all her losses, bottom was still beneath Gina. She fell through the trap door.

She went to work at a diner, got a used car and an apartment. But she still answered Keno's call.

Gina was soon caught on videotape stealing about $1,300 from a Keno parlor drawer. She tried to rob a Laundromat and assaulted a woman in the process.

"I was crazy," Gina said. "I ran to my apartment and locked the door. I didn't turn on the lights or answer the phone for two weeks. I was so paranoid. It was a dark place."

Gina went to the garage, started her car (intending to inhale a fatal amount carbon monoxide) and prepared to die. Thankfully, a neighbor rescued her. Medical personnel transferred her to the Clarinda Mental Health Institute for six weeks.

"Those people were wonderful," Gina said. "They helped me see I could beat this, that there was hope."

She was still facing a robbery charge. Gina said a great lawyer got her two years probation.

Her probation officer learned she went to a local casino. He threatened her with prison unless she went into treatment and did what they told her.

Gina started counseling at Heartland Family Service through the Iowa Gambling Treatment Program. The prison threat finally spurred her to action.

"(Heartland Family Service) saved my life. They gave me the 'why.' They helped me understand the addiction."

She's learned to put roadblocks into her gambling path whenever she's tempted. Gina will call her counselor or a member of her gambling therapy group if she gets the urge. She'll read a book or do something else to distract her.

Gina attends her weekly group and attends individual counseling every other week. She is working and lives with her sister. Her climb up continues.

She urges other gamblers to seek help, if they think they might have a problem. It is important to talk to people who work with the addiction, she said.

"It is so different. I am so happy now. There is life after gambling. You don't have to live in it."

You've probably heard the story of a young person who has gone to college or university and blown their OSAP through playing poker while living in residence.

Or maybe you've got a parent or spouse who regularly attends Bingo, always hoping for that next big win.

But what about the individual who throws their whole life away thanks to gambling and is forced to steal or is so destitute they take their own life?

Those stories aren't as widely told mainly because of confidentiality and the media's inability to discuss suicide, but that doesn't mean they don't occur.

In Ontario gambling is encouraged through advertising and benefits many charitable organizations but has become a problem.

A booth known as Within Limits was set up at Bingo City on Tuesday as a way of providing information during Problem Gambling Prevention Month.

"This year our focus is on gambling myths. The most popular one is it's possible to get rich through gambling; 11 per cent believe this is true," said Rachel Fraser, project co-ordinator.

Many people also believe the more you gamble the more likely you are to hit the jackpot.

"The truth is with the odds against you the more you gamble the more likely you are to lose money," she said, adding that's why they ask individuals to check their myths at the door.

In Ontario 3.4 per cent of people have a gambling problem and one in 10 are affected by someone they know who gambles.

"What we see in the North is problems mostly with scratch tickets, off-track betting on horses and Bingo," said Yvonne McClinchey, clinical supervisor with South Cochrane Addictions Services.

The organization treats individuals by determining how much of a problem it is in their lives and what they hope to get out of it.

"Some want to quit gambling entirely while others wish to not gamble as much," McClinchey said.

A problem gambler must learn what his or her urges and triggers are to prevent a relapse.

They can't simply use avoidance because lottery tickets are everywhere "so we encourage people to only carry a certain amount of money with them and no credit and debit card," Fraser said.

And for those who decide to head to the casino, "bring only the amount of money you're prepared to lose."

Once Selection Sunday 2008 is over, a betting frenzy like no other takes place the few days in between Selection Sunday and the first game of the 2008 March Madness season is played.

Online gambling sites also enjoy tremendous amount of action as a result of massive March Madness Brackets contests being offered. Typically, these websites offer a million dollar prize to those who get the bracket right in its entirety. It probably won't happen, but some have come close.

"We've had people come within a few games," admitted a representative of BetUS.com, which again this year is offering up a $1 million bracket contest starting Selection Sunday March 16 (once all the March Madness teams are announced).

For websites like Gambling911.com, Selection Sunday provides fertile traffic thanks to the masses looking to place bets immediately after games are announced in hopes of getting the best number (odds).

Throughout the period between Selection Sunday and Game One, odds have a tendency to fluctuate violently on some games. In fact, you will want to bookmark our very popular live odds comparison page to take full advantage of the different odds being offered on the same game at various online gambling websites.

Sites like BetUS.com were offering betting odds on the different divisions right up to Selection Sunday and probably right up to the first March Madness game.

Instead of spending his retirement with his family, a 70-year-old Millcreek Township man is on his way to a federal prison for what will likely be about five years.

Donald D. Cesare, who robbed a Millcreek bank while beset by gambling losses, pleaded guilty to the felonies of armed bank robbery and bank robbery.

The maximum sentence is 25 years. But Cesare's lack of a prior record and other factors put his sentencing guidelines in the range of four years and nine months to five years and 11 months, the U.S. Attorney's Office and the defense said.

The defense has mentioned Cesare's gambling problems at prior court proceedings, and can provide more details at his sentencing, scheduled for May 2 in federal court in Erie.

U.S. District Judge Sean J. McLaughlin will decide whether the gambling problems or any other issues warrant sentencing Cesare above or below the guidelines.

"It is apparent that the gambling was the primary motivation for him committing this offense," Assistant U.S. Attorney Christian Trabold said after Cesare pleaded guilty before McLaughlin on Wednesday.

Cesare's lawyer, Thomas Patton, an assistant federal public defender, declined comment.

He said previously in court that Cesare was dealing with gambling-related financial problems when he robbed $6,172 from the First National Bank at 2765 W. Eighth St., west of the Colony Plaza, shortly before 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 8.

Millcreek police and the FBI said Cesare admitted using a handgun he had owned since the 1960s to threaten a teller to give him the money, which he stuffed in a plastic grocery bag.

Cesare fled in his Ford Taurus, and police and the FBI used a description of the car to locate him. The police and FBI found a duffel bag filled with stolen cash and a .25-caliber Beretta handgun in a search of Cesare's house in the 3900 block of Amherst Road.

Cesare believed the gun was broken and would not fire when he used it during the robbery, Patton said in court Wednesday.

Cesare, dressed in khaki pants and a light blue Oxford shirt, answered McLaughlin firmly, with yes and no responses, as the judge asked him whether he understood the terms of his guilty plea, which did not include a plea bargain. Cesare declined comment as he left the courtroom with his wife and another woman.

Cesare, who has a child in college, is a retired car salesman who also served as a Eucharistic minister at Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church in Millcreek. He will await sentencing at a rehabilitation center that a Roman Catholic priest, Monsignor James Peterson, operates.

Cesare after his arrest was released on an unsecured bond of $5,000, so he could become enrolled at the Diocesan Lodge, in Spartansburg, Crawford County. The lodge is part of the Maria House Projects, Peterson's program for troubled men.

Gambling is on a hot streak of its own.

Because of popular TV tournaments and easy access to online gambling sites, more people are trying it out. The nationwide trend has reached college students.

Experts say as many as half a million students could be addicted to gambling.

According to a study from the Minnesota Gambling Problem Resource Center, 88 percent of college students across the country participate in some form of gambling every year.

Although most people handle recreational gambling responsibly, it can become an overwhelming addiction for others.

Chase Lindell, a psychology junior, said he prefers online gambling to the casinos, but participates in both.

“Online poker is easy and convenient, which can cause it to be very addictive,” Lindell said. “One does not even have to leave the seat; a couple of clicks of the mouse and you have access to the ATM.”

Students who have gambled say adrenaline rushes through the body as one puts money on the line, becoming “all eyes” observing the dealer and surrounding players.

They add that as the game intensifies, the feeling becomes addicting.

“Poker parties” refer to students hosting small house parties to bring together gamblers and any others interested in a friendly game of poker or other card game.

The hosts’ houses are transformed into mini-casinos as the games continue throughout the night.

But when does social gambling cross into addictive territory, and what dictates this fine line?

Thad Leffingwell, a psychology professor, said a clear boundary exists.

“Gambling becomes a problem when the person repeatedly crosses the boundary of the limit they originally intended on spending,” Leffingwell said.

Everyone has heard the horrific gambling stories that have brought students into major debt, but no one knows how common gambling debt truly is on college campuses.

“Chasing your debts or losses is when it can become a consequential problem. This refers to when students believe they can win to replace their debts from the previous night,” said Leffingwell.

Most casinos are legal only for those 21 or older. However, as there are underage drinkers of alcohol, there also exists underage gamblers who visit casinos.

“I enjoy the live competition of the casino instead of any poker machine or online gaming,” said Dusty Lendermen, a marketing management junior. “It is not nearly as addictive as chewing tobacco.”

Not all gamblers have an addiction, but gambling addictions are becoming more prevalent.

Gambling addictions are categorized with drug and alcohol addictions. But, unlike those addicted to drug and alcohol, compulsive gamblers are harder to identify because there are no visible symptoms.

Help programs and treatment, similar to Alcoholics Anonymous, are increasing in availability .

All in, no bluffs. Beware of the treacherous waters of gambling.

Gambling counselor Frank Limone has visited the video slots at Yonkers Raceway several times to see who comes at different hours of the day.

"In the morning and afternoon we're seeing senior citizens. For some of these people, it's their only social outlet," said Limone, a program coordinator at the Westchester Jewish Community Services' Problem Gambling Recovery Program in New Rochelle. "On Friday nights, it's young people bringing their dates because they can't afford to go to higher-power casinos. They are playing penny machines."

Limone visited Empire City at Yonkers Raceway because he was concerned that the video lottery terminals would increase problem gambling. He has seen no significant increase in problem gamblers coming to his program since Empire City opened last year, but throughout the region the numbers of people calling a state hotline for problem gambling are up.

Jim Maney, executive director of the New York Council on Problem Gambling, said the increase in calls to his group from people in Westchester and Rockland counties is "tremendous."

Between January and September 2006 and the same period this year, calls to the group's hotline rose 75 percent in Rockland and 28 percent in Westchester.

"Do you know our number? Nobody does," Maney said. "The only place they find it in Westchester County is on that (video lottery terminal) machine."

Despite the increases by percentage, the actual number of people calling the hotline remains small relative to the volume of people visiting Empire City. From January to September of this year, 109 people called from Westchester, 42 from Rockland and 12 from Putnam.

Still, Limone said he has started getting calls from gamblers having problems with Empire City.

"We're starting to see women come in," he said. "Some are escape gamblers. Some are having problems with family or feeling lonely and empty. It's getting to the point where they are picking up the phone."

When the too numerous governing bodies of tennis all agree before they sit down for a meeting, you know the issue is either trivial or very serious.

No guesswork is required to figure out which applies to the issue of match-fixing.

Tennis has long made a habit of finding fault with itself, searching for doom clouds amidst the bright blue of the Grand Slam events and Roger Federer's talent. But in this case, its scouts did not scan the horizon diligently enough.

True, the men's tour and its former leader, Mark Miles, put in place an anti-corruption program in 2003 after the perils of Internet gambling began coming into focus. True, the women's tour already has comprehensive rules and sanctions.

But having good laws is not the same thing as having good enforcement, and it is only now, amid allegations and at least two investigations, that the sport seems ready to tackle the issue collectively and wholeheartedly with full-time manpower and week-in, tournament-out emphasis.

On Friday in Roehampton, England, representatives from the women's tour, men's tour, International Tennis Federation and Grand Slams will gather at ITF headquarters to begin the process of creating and sharing the cost for what they have dubbed the "integrity unit."

Experts who have worked on anti-corruption in horse racing and cricket are scheduled to speak to the tennis officials, whose intent is to improve intelligence gathering and player education as well as tighten the oversight of accreditation at tournaments.

It would have been better if the integrity unit had been a proactive move instead of a reactive one, hurried along by the suspect match between Nikolay Davydenko and Martín Vassallo Argüello in a minor tournament in Poland in August. That match attracted more than $7 million in wagers on the online betting exchange Betfair, a preposterously high amount for an early-round match in an obscure setting. Much of the betting backed the heavily favored Davydenko to lose, even after he had won the first set. The Russian eventually retired from the match, citing a foot injury, and Betfair took the unusual step of voiding all the bets after notifying the ATP, which has begun an investigation.

Since then, several players have come forward to claim that they have declined offers to throw matches. Among them: Dmitry Tursunov of Russia, Paul Goldstein of the United States and Gilles Elseneer, a Belgian, who said he was approached to lose at Wimbledon in 2005. The rub is that none of those players approached the ATP or ITF with that information before going public, and as of yet, no player has publicly identified his would-be bribers.

"In a perverse sort of way, I'm quite grateful for what's happened, because it's allowed everyone in the sport to think about what they should do more of and better," said Etienne de Villiers, head of the men's tour, in an interview by telephone. "We've been talking for more than a year about the integrity unit. And now everybody is ready to say: 'Let's do it. Let's not worry about who's paying for what and who runs it and who gets credit."

But in a globalized sports world, where threats and bribes can come from even more places than players, making the unit effective is a bona fide, surely expensive challenge.

"At the end of this fully committed review, we will get about 7,000 recommendations and try to play it right, and we will I'm sure, because this is terribly threatening," said Bill Babcock, the ITF's executive director. "It's a threat not because the players are involved, because that is not clear, but because it becomes an association with our sport.

"We're not here to stop betting. We don't have that authority and couldn't, but we are here to make sure there is no match-fixing. That's the focus. Betting on tennis is going to happen, but we have to make sure the next step isn't taken: corrupting our athletes. We need to put up a giant wall of tools and rules and experts."

A fire wall might be more useful, considering the explosion in Internet gambling traffic, which has opened up even the most minor tour matches to a global clientele. This is, of course, hardly a tennis-specific issue. Just look at the headlines and the trial of the star Irish jockey Kieren Fallon that is now under way, in which he is among those charged with rigging horse races and defrauding Betfair.

But at least a jockey has to find a way to make his mount slow down to lose a race intentionally. Tennis singles players would need to rely on no one but themselves to throw a match, and what makes the sport more vulnerable is that much of the tennis played throughout the year is of limited import. A player in a minor event can lose early and theoretically suffer no negative impact to his ranking, because only his top 18 tournament results each year are counted.

The upside is that companies like Betfair have a stake in pouncing on any highly unusual trends and passing the information along to sports administrators.

Still, ask tennis administrators what scares them more, doping or gambling, and they will answer gambling.

"With doping, you know who you have to test and know you can test them," De Villiers said. "It's just down to science. If you can stay ahead of the guys cheating, which is a tough thing to do, you have a far better chance of getting to the root of the problem. The problem here is you don't know who is doing what to whom. You could be talking about a coach or a friend of a coach. There's much more difficulty, which is why we need resources and punishments. You've got to put a rule in place, and make it clear that if you screw up here, you've got to learn to hit nine irons, and by the way, the guys on that side are probably not going to let you in either."

One concept that De Villiers intends to borrow from golf is that players are responsible for policing their game and their peers. A proposed ATP rule that looks very likely to be approved would sanction players who do not disclose relevant information about potential corruption to the tour within 48 hours of becoming aware of it. So much for Elseneer waiting more than two years to come forward.

"It's a change of culture," said De Villiers, who maintains his belief that match-fixing is not yet a problem in tennis. "We can't possibly stop athletes from being approached. We can't possibly have all of our 700 or 800 athletes with bodyguards. But what we can do is educate them on their responsibilities when they are approached and what the consequences of not behaving appropriately are."

Cultural change has not been restricted to the players. It bears remembering that as recently as last year, the ATP brain trust seriously considered accepting an Internet betting company as an official tour sponsor before thinking better of it.

Clearly, much less debate would be required now, but there are still individual tour events with gambling sites for sponsors, including the tournament this year in Vienna.

Just what sort of message does that send to those outside and, above all, inside the game?

INTERNET gambling has led to an alarming increase in the number of vulnerable women gamblers, according to a Greenwich University expert.
Professor Roslyn Corney says she is convinced that women are turning to the internet to gamble anonymously and that it is causing debt and relationship problems.
Women who are already struggling to make ends meet, having difficulty raising young children or coping with bereavement are particularly vulnerable.
She said: "Many of the women I have spoken to say they see it as a way of putting all their problems behind them and they can get totally absorbed in it.
"But of course the trouble is it brings them additional problems and difficulties including mental health issues."
Faith Freestone, is a specialist in female gambling based at Gordon House, Beckenham. She said female gamblers in the borough are on the increase and face losing everything.
Ms Freestone said: "When a woman comes to us, gambling has cost them everything. They may be homeless, have no friends or family, they could have been in prison or attempted suicide. Gambling knows no tolerance level unlike other addictions."
According to her it is difficult to gauge for sure the effect the internet has had on the number of problem women gamblers but anecdotal evidence suggests they have increased.
Gamcare, an organisation which provides support for gamblers received 30,247 inbound calls to their helpline in 2006, a 33 per cent increase on the previous year.
One member, Jan, wrote on their website forum: "I would gamble online until all my credit cards were used up. Desperate to play, but with no funds, I would go to bed early hours of the morning feeling depressed but still hyper.
In a diary entry she wrote: "I still cannot believe I started gambling online yesterday evening, couldn't wait to get home from work and spent £1500 in one evening. Still reeling, I've never done that in one go before."
According to Professor Corney the Internet adds to the risk of problem gambling because it is highly accessible and therefore easy to gamble in secret.
She said: "You don't have to leave the house to do it and you can place bets both day and night.
"There's little or nothing to stop you chasing your losses except yourself."
Professor Corney is conducting a study about wo-men gamblers.
She can be contacted confidentially on 0208 331 8926 or r.h.corney@greenwich.ac.uk.

The new Gambling Commission, set up to advise the Government on Britain's gambling industry, has released a report showing that the country has over 250,000 problem gamblers. The figure represents about 0.6 per cent of the adult population, the same proportion as was revealed in a study from 1999. The publication of the report coincides with the Government's new Gambling Act, which came into force at the start of the month.

The number of adults participating in some kind of gambling over the past 12 months has actually fallen compared to eight years ago. The report found that 68 per cent of adults, around 32 million people, had participated in some form of gambling over the past year. In the 1999 study, the comparable figure was 72 per cent of adults, representing around 33 million people. The result of the report led the Gambling Commission's chairman, Peter Dean, to optimistically conclude that there had been "surprisingly little change" in the number of people participating in gambling or in the number of problem gamblers in the UK.

The findings are seen as reliable by problem-gambling support groups and the gambling industry alike, as they were reviewed by two of the world's leading experts on the subject. But as with all statistics, scratching the surface reveals a slightly different story. In the main, the percentage of adults participating in some kind of gambling event has fallen because fewer people are playing the National Lottery, the nation's most popular gambling event by far. The proportion of people buying a lottery ticket has fallen from 65 per cent in 1999 to 57 per cent.

When the figures for participation in the National Lottery are taken out, the picture looks slightly different. Excluding the lottery, yesterday's report revealed that 48 per cent of the population had taken part in other forms of gambling, or around 23 million people. That was one million more people than in the 1999 study.

According to the report, the most likely people to participate in gambling are white men, from a higher income household. Men are still more likely to gamble than women, with 71 per cent taking part in some form of gambling, compared with 65 per cent of women. Bingo is an exception – it remains a mainly female pastime. In contrast, those most susceptible to becoming problem gamblers were people from vulnerable sections of society. Gambling addiction was found to be associated with poor health and having a problem gambler as a parent. It was also "significantly associated" with being black or Asian and having fewer educational qualifications.

Britain's gambling industry is strong, but Brits are by no means the world's biggest gamblers. Although comparisons should be taken with caution because of the slightly different methods used to measure gambling addition, the UK is in mid-table. It has a similar rate of problem gamblers to Canada and New Zealand, but a lower rate than in South Africa and the United States. Hong Kong fares the worst: over 5 per cent of the adult population are problem gamblers. The UK's 0.6 per cent rate is modest in comparison.

Because the UK's £91bn gambling industry is entering a new era as a result of the introduction of the Gambling Act, which came into force this month. Sweeping changes mean that casinos, betting shops and online gambling operators will be able to advertise on television and radio for the first time. Those opposing the Act suggest that this could lead to a growth in gambling addiction.

While gambling has not risen in the UK over the past eight years, the number and profile of gambling firms certainly has. There has also been an explosion in the number of online gambling sites. Gambling firms now have their logos emblazoned on the shirts of Premiership football teams and Formula One racing cars, and have also filled the void left by tobacco firms by sponsoring major sports such as darts and snooker.

Gordon Brown has already demonstrated his concern over the potential growth of gambling in Britain. While still Chancellor, he was known to be privately against the Government's decision to allow the development of a super-casino in Manchester. When installed safely at Number 10, Brown used one of his first Prime Minister's Questions to halt the plans.

And although the fact that there has been no rise in gambling addiction is good news, supplying help to those with gambling addictions is still a problem. The number of calls to GamCare's helpline, the UK's leading support service for problem gamblers, has been increasing year on year. It received 30,000 calls last year, up by a third on 2005. It has already received 40,000 calls this year.

There are many who remain silent over their addiction. The number of women seeking help has historically been low, and the organisation has been exploring other ways to reach them.

It's not just the person with the addiction who suffers. "Just like all addictions, it can affect entire families and those around the addict," said Nicola Crewe-Read, from GamCare. "In that way, many more people than the 250,000 problem gamblers have their lives affected by the issue. Now is certainly not the time to be complacent. We realise that we have a lot of work ahead of us."

In reality, yesterday's figures tell us nothing about the effect of the Gambling Act on our betting behaviour. Some major players in the gambling industry have been holding back from TV and radio advertising so far. It is only after this kind of advertising has been around for some time that its impact can truly be assessed.

Yesterday's report is important for another reason. The new figures will act as a benchmark against which government ministers and regulators can assess the impact of the liberalised gambling laws in the future. As a result, the really revealing study on the impact of the new gambling laws is still to come. Another study will be carried out in 2009 and 2010 – that one should give us a better idea about how the new Act has affected gambling participation.

As with all big legislative changes, only time will tell what effect the new rules will have on the nation's gambling habits. While regulation is tighter and many large gambling firms have agreed to carry GamCare's helpline number on their adverts, the impact of larger casinos and increased advertising is unpredictable. But when the next analysis is made, yesterday's report means that we will have pretty reliable data to assess the impact of Britain's new gambling rules.

* Companies advertise for a reason – to encourage people to use their services

* More people are now participating in forms of gambling other than the National Lottery

* The Gambling Act brings provides for greater scrutiny of the gambling industry

At a cyber café in the city of Guangzhou, a thirty-year old Chinese man fainted while gambling online. Paramedics arrived on the scene and tried to revive him but it was too late. The man was pronounced dead on the scene and the apparent cause of death is over exhaustion. After playing for three days nonstop with no sustenance it finally took its toll. After the man died the rest of the café patrons left in fear of what just happened.

This is the first known person to die from extended online gambling. There have never been any other incidents recorded. Internet use and especially online gambling should be played with caution. Playing for long periods of time can have harmful effects to the body. Experts say that a break every hour to half hour should be efficient and then after a short break you can continue playing.

Gamcare and eCogra have been researching the effects of the internet and online gambling. Because of these studies gaming companies are trying to take further precautions to prevent deaths like this from happening.

For commissioner Roger Goodell, the Sept. 6 season opener can't get here fast enough.

The NFL's new Get-Tough commissioner travels from camp to camp to meet with teams but he hears the same questions. They are about Michael Vick.

This pathetic story isn't going to go away when Vick enters his plea in a federal court Monday. Even when Vick goes off to minimum security prison for approximately a year, the Vick story will continue to unfold and there will always be speculation as to when or if Vick should be allowed to return to the field.

But here's the good news for the NFL. Although the story of Michael Vick, a.k.a. "Ookie" according to the federal indictment, is the sickest of a very dark sports summer, it has no impact on the game itself.

The tale of gambling referee Tim Donaghy places a much broader stain on the NBA and its integrity than Vick's dogfighting habits will have on the NFL. The same goes for Barry Bonds and his record-breaking summer as we watch home runs sail out of ballparks and wonder what it all means and whether players are still doing it with illegal enhancements.

I'm not saying what Vick did is excusable in any way. Anything Bonds may or may not have taken is nothing compared to Vick's actions. We know lots of players have tested positive for steroids, and we know many more of them were doing questionable things before Major League Baseball got around to banning steroids and other supplements.

But steroids or Human Growth Hormone or anything else baseball players have taken has a direct impact on the game itself. As a result the game's all-time home run king is vilified across the country and the record book is tainted.

It may be even worse for the NBA. There has been speculation that Donaghy is prepared to identify as many as 20 NBA referees who have been involved in gambling. And the bad news for commissioner David Stern is that it is his own rule and his own quotes that are going to come back to haunt him.

He has said that even legal casino gambling will cost officials their jobs. There will be no moral outrage from basketball fans when they hear the names of referees who have played blackjack or pulled a few slot machine handles.

But Stern has drawn a line in the sand, and he must stick to it. Where he goes to find 20 competent officials ready to step right in and make critical calls in games played at NBA speed, I don't know. That's his problem.

Basketball has always been subject to more conspiracy theories than any other sport. Key calls that get the Los Angeles Lakers, the league's glamour team, into the Finals or the ping pong ball that magically bounced New York's way to give the Knicks Patrick Ewing have long been questioned.

With Donaghy's admission to having bet on games he was officiating, this isn't just speculation about fixed games any more. It, apparently, really happened.

Every official that makes a questionable call – and how many are there in any NBA game? – is now subject to abusive fans and media speculation, thanks to Donaghy.

Meanwhile, Vick's actions, though reprehensible, have no effect on the game. Dogfighting didn't make him better or worse as a quarterback.

Once the games begin, fans of 31 teams will have no reason to think about the consequences of Vick's behavior.

And there will be plenty to talk about. The horrible things that took place at Bad Newz Kennels on Moonlight Road in Smithfield, Va., won't and shouldn't be forgotten.

But they place a stain only on the man, not the game itself. For that, Goodell can be grateful.

By David Langton

Published: 17 September 2007

Gambling addiction in the UK has more than doubled in recent years with up to 600,000 people hooked, new figures are expected to reveal.

The research by the Gambling Commission may prove to be the final nail in the coffin for the Government's plans to build the UK's first Las Vegas-style super-casino in Manchester, with many expecting Gordon Brown to scrap the plans.

Details of the report are being kept secret until its official release on Wednesday, but it is expected to document a dramatic increase in the number of people gambling both online and in casinos.

The dramatic rise over the past eight years ties in with the increasing popularity of online betting and touch screen roulette games where players can bet anything up to £300 a minute.

Mr Brown let it be known that he disapproved of gambling when he levied a surprise £100m tax on casinos in his last Budget as Chancellor in March. Shortly afterwards, plans for 17 casinos were thrown out by Parliament.

As Prime Minister, Mr Brown then ordered a review of plans for the Manchester super-casino. At the time, the policy was described by Government insiders as "dead in the water".

It is, however, too late to revoke a relaxation in the gaming rules which have allowed betting shops to open later and let casinos advertise on television.

The Commission last carried out a similar survey eight years ago when it put the number of UK addicts at 300,000. The study is also expected to say a million people in the UK are now gambling online, spending an average of £1,000 a year each.

The Commission says internet gamblers are usually men aged 18 to 34.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- An expansion in gambling options in Iowa has coincided with a record number of calls to the state's toll-free gamblers assistance hotline, state Department of Public Health officials said.
The agency runs the state's 1-800-BETS-OFF help line. According to the department, the help line fielded 7,341 inquiries during the fiscal year that ended June 30.
That's an increase of more than 15 percent over the previous year. Officials said they believed the uptick was tied to the opening of new casinos in Riverside, Emmetsburg and Worth County, as well as several remodeling expansions at existing casinos.
"There are obviously multiple variables there, but that's the one that seems the most logical to me," said Mark Vander Linden, Iowa Gambling Treatment Program coordinator.
Last week the state's Racing and Gaming Commission released data showing state-regulated riverboat and racetrack casinos had adjusted gross receipts of more than $1.3 billion in fiscal 2007. Those figures do not include gambling activity at three American Indian casinos operating near Tama, Sloan and Onawa.
Iowa has added four state-licensed casinos in the last 15 months. The Diamond Jo Worth, in April 2006; the Wild Rose, in Emmetsburg, in May 2006; the Riverside Casino and Golf Resort in August 2006; and the Isle of Capri in Waterloo on June 30.
Vander Linden said he expected even more hot line calls about gambling problems to occur this year. The fiscal 2007 totals mark the fourth straight yearly increase in help calls.
Vander Linden said help line calls increased throughout the 12-month period, but those in the second half of the fiscal year were up 29 percent over the July-through-December months in the previous year.
The highest-volume month was January, with 792 calls, he said.

Let me say first and foremost that I know the good that the lotteries do with respect to sports, education and community development in this country, and such a contribution cannot be ignored. But while that is the case, there are implications as it relates to persons who can become addicted to these games and indeed the ever- popular slot machines.

Whether we want to admit it or not, such games can become as addictive as alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other drugs, and I am pretty sure they have been the reason why a number of families have broken up and persons have lost their jobs. And, sad but true, if these addicts have children, they more than anyone else will suffer. The term addiction, while previously applied exclusively to such things as alcohol, drugs and nicotine, has now to also be applied to gambling, as research on the brain and how it works has shown that many behaviours can become as chemically addictive as a substance.

As such, the families of gamblers suffer greatly from physical and psychological abuse; harassment and threats from bill collectors and creditors; increased stress which stems from neglect; divorce; and without a doubt, the extra financial burden placed on them to repay debts. This is why I shudder to think of there being an increase in the level of gambling in Barbados, which some quarters state has already reached alarming proportions, and so I certainly do not agree with casino gambling being introduced to the scene - even if only for the tourists.

The church argues that it will further corrupt our morals and that may very well be true. It certainly has been known to promote greed, family neglect, wastage of money and an increase in crime.

What you may think of as a playing a simple game, or buying a lottery ticket, can turn into a compulsive habit without you even realising it. The problems compulsive gamblers create for their families can be as devastating as those which relatives of drug addicts face. The pressure to make ends meet, un- certainty about their future and the collapse of relationships are some of the troubles such persons encounter. We might not want to acknowledge it, but there are several Barbadians who are gambling away their weekly and monthly earnings and this is occurring in all strata of society.

Some are what can be referred to as compulsive gamblers and, sad to say, many are elderly persons who cash their pension cheques and waste that money at the slot machines and race tracks without a thought as to where their next meal will come from. Obviously, we cannot tell them what to do with their money, but at the same time every effort should be made to ensure that they are not robbed in any form or fashion.

We complain about those who steal pension cheques from the elderly, but do not see the need to put safeguards in place to protect them from themselves. I suppose the problem would be, though, getting persons to recognise that they indeed have a problem and one that needs to be addressed.

Regardless, I urge those who have the power to decide, not to embrace anymore levels of gambling in our society and not to turn a blind eye to the problems that already exist.

Gambling addicts in the remote Scottish environs of Dumfries and Galloway are to receive counselling sessions through the internet and VoIP.

Gamblers Anonymous hopes its scheme will help people living in rural areas to address their gambling addictions. Which if nothing else suggests that the broadband rollout is going well.

GA will port Skype's VoIP (voice over internet telephony) into the homes of addicts in the region, so that gamblers can call for help even when they have no money. If addicts in Dumfries and Galloway want to attend a Gamblers Anonymous meeting right now, they have to travel to Carlisle. And no-one deserves that, right?

In the past year, Gamblers Anonymous has seen the number of addicts attending its self-help groups across the country double. It will buy 50 internet telephones, allowing people to take part in sessions with as many as 12 other addicts.

Which strikes me as a valuable use of the internet - especially at a time when mobile web access allows net gamblers no respite. Indeed, when launching the intriguing Pocketsurfer2 the other day, Datawind said it would be 'ideal' for online gamblers. Now I like a flutter myself so I'm far from anti-gambling, but perhaps Datawind should whack on a VoIP headset, just to be on the safe side.

t can start so innocently... so you had a little bet on the Melbourne Cup and lost, or you overspent a little on the pokies. You tell yourself, "So what, I won't do it next time". But the fact is that for some people what starts out as a harmless dabble in gambling can grow into an obsession.

Mick, Sarah and Ian know what it's like to lose control. They're all reached the point when gambling began to ruin their lives. They know what it's like to lose everything, their family and friends, money and possessions, dignity and self-esteem.

But in the hope they may be able to help others, they want to encourage others to take the road to recovery.

Ian says an addiction to gambling is like an allergy. "For people who may be allergic to bees, they won't go sitting near a bee hive but for me, I'm allergic to gambling but that's the thing I want to get to, as often as I can".

Sarah agrees, "It's very much like an allergy that you can't get away from. It's caught you".

Like other addictions, problem gambling has at its initial high, in this case, the thrill of winning. When it's working, it feels good; you're making money, living in the moment and everything in the universe is working with you, picking you up and carrying you along.

Mick describes those moments as the biggest thrill he's had in his life. "I used to say the more money I had in my pocket, the bigger the superman symbol on my chest... the greater I'd feel. It was an incredible high".

"It's like you're in love", Sarah laments, "and you're sedated with this enormous feeling. Everything is possible".

But most gamblers will tell you at some point it all comes crashing down. These stories are no exception. During their recovery, all three have had time to reflect on their addictions with gambling.

"It's a false hope that it's going to turn the corner very shortly. With me it was poker machines. I live in a hope that it's going to turn soon and then I'll leave. But I never leave because I am a compulsive gambler," says Sarah.

"I've come to believe that gambling isn't the problem, I'm the problem," adds Mick.

Ian says he was born a compulsive gambler. "I was just waiting to have that betting experience and once I had that experience there was a sensation inside me that I wanted to keep finding in my life. At one stage I had my own small business and I was working two other jobs on the side. The problem was, the more I earned the more I spent".

He reached a personal low when he managed to gamble the cost of a car in a single weekend. "I convinced the bank that I was going to come to Brisbane over the weekend and purchase a second hand car - that was the reason for the loan. And I got that cash, and I proceeded to lose that in the next 36 hours through the poker machines. It was over ten thousand dollars".

In comparison, Sarah feels her early life, in a big family in the Solomon Islands, pre-disposed her to become a gambler. "Gambling and drinking is a normal thing in our family. When I grew up I didn't really want to be a gambler because I saw what it causes. I got a scholarship to Australia when I was fifteen and I stayed on and I thought 'Thank God I got away from that'. But deep within me I had already engraved those belief systems with me".

Her life reached a low point when her husband left her with a large debt and a young daughter. Seriously depressed and unable to reach out for help, she was considering suicide the day a girlfriend first introduced her to the pokies at an RSL club.

"My friend gave me five dollars and said 'Try this'. So when I tried it, I won the mini-jackpot. All that feeling of depression just lifted. Wow, what a feeling. My heart came alive. And so from there, I went on... gambling with the friends once a week. I started going by myself, I started going every night, after work... for six and a half years. I hocked all my things. Then at the end I was living in a garage, with my child. I looked forward to seeing the poker machine and I'd treat it like a lover".

In the end, it was something Sarah's daughter said to her that made her act. Sarah says she could see her daughter's pain and fear mirroring her own childhood and she called the Gamblers Anonymous helpline.

On the other hand, Mick's gambling story began when he was an immigrant schoolboy, unable to speak English, who found success in the playground through his marble-playing prowess. "As I progressed in life I learnt how to gamble on all sorts of things: pinball machines; playing darts; pool tables; scratchies; lottos; casino games; the whole lot... I just loved gambling - full stop".

Before he was even 21, Mick knew he was in deep trouble with gambling. It wasn't long after, when he gambled the savings he and his fiancée had accrued for their engagement party, that his mother and fiancée gave him an ultimatum.

His first attempt at quitting was unsuccessful and he went on to plummet to lower depths, including serving three jail terms for gambling-associated crime. "I've slept in the park across from the casino. I stole from friends, family and neighbors. I broke into people's homes. I broke into businesses. I ended up in hospital for with severe stomach pains through absolute fear because I owed money to people on the wrong side of the law".

Mick ended up at the Salvation Army Rehabilitation Centre at Red Hill. "What I had was time out. I had time to work out who I am, what I am and what I need to do to recover from this problem. And so for thirteen months I had this wonderful time out.

"Some of the keys for us to recover are first of all we've got to become honest - to ourselves and to other people. For me personally, it's a relief. It's a lot easier to be honest than to be dishonest".

Sarah finishes his sentence and reflects on the similar place the three have been and where they all don't want to return. "It's a sentence with a full stop and that's it, it's completed".

If you have a gambling problem visit the Gamblers Anonymous or Gambling Impact Society websites or call their hotlines... Gamblers Anonymous QLD: 1800 002 210, NSW: (02) 9564 1574. Gambling Impact Society QLD: 1800 222 050 (24 HRS), NSW: 1800 633 635.

A pathological gambler is suing an Australian casino for his massive losses after he placed himself on an "exclusion list" and was still allowed to return to the casino to gamble.

Behrouz Foroughi, 43, originally from Iran, lost more than $600,000 playing roulette at the Star City Casino in Sydney. He volunteered to be banned from the casino, believing that security staff would stop him from gambling.

However, Mr Foroughi was allowed back to the casino a further 65 times, with his gambling losses mounting up all the time. He was even offered entry into the high rollers’ room on some occasions.

Greg Laughton SC, representing Mr Foroughi, told the federal court in Sydney that the casino had neglected its duty of care after his client placed himself on the exclusion list.

"At the very least, Star City was on notice that Mr Foroughi had a problem with gambling and was probably addicted to it by reason of his voluntary exclusion from the casino," Mr Laughton told the court.

"Star City knew or ought to have known his ability to resist gambling was diminished. He was told that he would be detected and removed. Star City was at least accepting an obligation to do that."

However, Mr Foroughi accepts that he did not follow the advice of the casino to go and seek professional help for his addiction. When Mr Foroughi did win, he admitted that he spent his winnings on lavish dinner parties and on prostitutes.

Dave Mackey, who was the security operations manager for the Star City casino when Mr Foroughi was banned, told the court that the casino would do the best they could to keep him out of the casino, but the responsibility also rested on Mr Foroughi’s shoulders too. He also told the court that he explained to banned individuals that the casino would not be liable if they entered the casino.

PORTLAND - Oregon Health officials say they are starting to see a rise in the number of teens who gamble.

Health experts say teens who try gambling typically play poker or bet on sports teams. For most, it's just a way to hang out with friends. But studies also show one in every 25 teens is a problem gambler.

"The main things kids are getting is gambling is glamorous, fun, sexy, cool," says Dr. Jeff Marotta. "Pretty much it happens at sleep overs, birthday parties and usually money I've seen like one dollar bills and 5 dollars bills probably the most I've ever seen."

What most teens don't realize is that gambling comes with a risk. The younger someone is, the more likely they are to develop a gambling problem in the future.

The Oregon Department of Human Services has developed a new video to make teens aware of gambling risks. On the video, one student says she was gambled away between two boys who liked her.

Doctors say if your teen is talking about gambling a lot or if their social life revolves around gambling, parents should consider talking to them about potential risks.

Down $500 at the blackjack table at Caesars Indiana, Xidi Zheng tried to get $500 more at an ATM -- and that's when his luck really ran out.

A cashier checking Zheng's ID during his November visit to the Elizabeth, Ky., casino discovered he was 19 -- under the minimum age of 21 to legally come aboard a riverboat and gamble.

Caesars and its Las Vegas-based parent, Harrah's Entertainment, evicted Zheng for life. But underage gambling also sent Zheng to court when authorities charged the Cleveland, Ohio, resident with unlawfully entering the casino. Zheng is now in a year of pre-trial diversion.

Zheng's arrest reflects a problem that, for the casino industry, has come to mirror that of underage drinking for taverns and liquor stores.

"In many ways, it's more appealing to sneak into a casino now than getting served in a bar," said David Giancopassi, a University of Memphis researcher who has studied underage casino gambling.

Giancopassi and other researchers of youth who gamble say permissive attitudes about high-stakes gaming and laws that allow 18-year-olds to wager in Texas Hold 'em tournaments, and on lotteries and horse racing, send a mixed message about the 21-and-older restriction.

Casinos also market themselves as fun, cool places where anybody can get lucky, and that's a powerful come-on for young people, Giancopassi said.

In some states, like New Jersey, casinos have multiple entry points and young visitors are allowed in with adult family members, making it easy for underage patrons to slip through. An average of 350 underage patrons a year have been caught playing at slot machines and tables in New Jersey's 11 casinos since 2003.

In comparison, in the last decade, Indiana's 10 riverboats have paid about $296,000 in fines for avoidable lapses in allowing 90 underage patrons inside in the last decade. Mike Smith, executive director of the Indiana Casino Association, said the riverboats put a lot of effort into stopping underage people before they can get onto the boat.

Researchers who study problem gambling say efforts to keep underage crashers off casino boats are worthwhile because youth gambling is a growing concern.

Since 2003, for example, some 76,000 underage patrons were either stopped at the door or escorted from Atlantic City casinos before they started gambling, said Daniel Heneghan, a spokesman with the New Jersey Casino Control Commission.

National surveys show that about 70 percent of teens 14 and over say they've gambled in the last year, compared with 45 percent nearly two decades ago, according to the Washington, D.C.-based National Council on Problem Gambling.

But no system of checks is completely fail-safe, security experts say, and some older teens and 20-year-olds get their hands on expertly counterfeited ID cards.

"If a person is really determined to get in they can find a way. Some fake IDs are pretty convincing," said Larry Buck, regional general manager with Las Vegas-based Pinnacle Entertainment, which owns Belterra Casino Resort & Spa in Switzerland County, Ind.

Take the case of two young Louisville, Ky., residents whose realistic-looking Massachusetts driver's licenses were confiscated during a late-night visit to Caesars Indiana last July 26.

According to a police report, Tim McClellan, 20, and Christopher Salsman, who turned 21 last fall, used counterfeit licenses to get past the turnstiles.

After losing at blackjack, Salsman took an ATM voucher to get more money at a cashier cage. When the birthdates on his credit card and the license didn't match, the report said, the cashier alerted security.

Salsman and McClellan, who also admitted he wasn't 21, were charged with illegally entering a casino, a misdemeanor. Both were ordered to complete a one-year pretrial diversion program and 24 hours of community service, a common sentence.

For his part, Zheng said that while he eventually got caught at Caesars, he believes he still can always find somewhere to play blackjack.

EXCLUSIVE: THE number of teenagers joining in casual gambling such as poker has doubled in the past six years, initial findings of a landmark report show.

The Youth Gambling Research Project – conducted by the Department of Education and Children Services, the University of Adelaide and UnitingCare Wesley – surveyed more than 3000 children aged 13 to 17 across the state about their gambling habits, beliefs and attitudes.

While the final report is not due for three months, early results show casual gambling among high school-age respondents has surged from 20 per cent in a similar survey in 2001 to around 40 per cent, UnitingCare Wesley's advocacy program manager Mark Henley told the Sunday Mail.

Mr Henley said the results indicated a decline in teens gambling on scratchies and lottery tickets, but a sharp rise in informal gambling, such as poker games with a group of friends at home or school.

Experts say the surge in teenage gambling is being driven by the glamorisation of poker and other gambling through television and movies.

And they warn school-aged gamblers are in danger of developing habits that could turn into addiction later in life.

South Australia is already experiencing a sharp rise in poker machine addiction, with many adult gamblers losing $50,000 or more each year to the $800 million industry.

The Youth Gambling survey results show a new generation of problem gamblers will only add to the state's gambling woes, according to No Pokies MLC Nick Xenophon.

"There's no doubt that children who are exposed to gambling early, or gamble themselves early, are more likely to continue doing so later in life," he said.

"Things such as poker tournaments shown through the media just make young people much more vulnerable to develop gambling problems in the future. It can lead to young people suffering major financial and emotional stress and impact on moments like buying your first car and first home."

Mr Henley agreed: "There is some evidence that the younger a person starts gambling, the higher the likelihood they will continue to do so."

He said there was "little doubt" that some schoolchildren were already losing money across the state through gambling.

"Some kids think: `Here's a way I can make money' but most kids probably see it as a game.

"The risk is when it moves to a commercial activity with exploitative kids in school trying to make money.

"There is a real danger when it becomes seen as a way to make money rather than have social interaction."

Mr Henley said young people often confuse the luck and skill element of gambling.

"They have less of an understanding of the way probability works and the real odds of winning," he said.

He credits films such as Casino Royale, the latest James Bond instalment, with glamorising poker.