John Nikolakis came from a privileged family. Few would have predicted that last September, at the age of 36, he would be alone in a dark, cold Louisiana apartment--all the utilities were cut off because he couldn't pay for them--dead broke and writing suicide notes. He was on probation for having embezzled nearly $80,000 from his former employer. His entire adult life had been consumed by the intoxication and compulsion of gambling away hundreds of thousands of dollars on everything from online poker to sports. He lost two good jobs, one girlfriend, and 17 years of his life. "This gambling crap has cost me everything," he says. "It cost me my pride, my honesty, and the biggest thing it cost was the relationships of people who cared for me."
This description of the downhill spiral caused by gambling is an excerpt from an article the May 23rd edition of U.S. News & World Report magazine. The article is a well written piece explaining both the psychological and medical history of compulsive gambling, as well as the current thinking about the addiction from both communities. Sprinkled throughout are nice quotes from several experts and talks about the success of various treatment options including Gamblers Anonymous and the Louisiana Association on Compulsive Gambling sponsored Center of Recovery, or CORE, where John was able to begin his successful abstinence. In the article they claim CORE has a 75% success rate, meaning that of the more than 600 patients the center has treated since 1998 more than three-quarters of them have completed the program and have never gambled again. I am not so sure this is correct, as I have spoken to at least some of the other 25% then, but there is no question they run a successful program down there.
When you check out the USNWR article, make sure and check out the "Web.Extra" articles including their entry into the story of the teenage poker craze so often chronicled on this site, and a very loooonnggg, but interesting article on the casino industry today. That e-article goes deep into discussion about how, no matter what we may think, the odds are ALWAYS in favor of the house. I particularly liked the Myth vs. Reality at the end of each article which listed this tidbit of information:
MYTH Poker is the one game where gamblers can really win big.
REALITY At the least, average players should, over the long run, lose whatever the host takes out of the pot, from an Internet site's 2 percent to some casinos'20 percent. But as the poker boom draws in more pros, amateurs will most likely lose even more.
Given my blog last night about people trying to convince me lately that poker is not gambling, I was glad to see this one!
This group of articles is worth the time to read.
John
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