Gamblor’s World

Addiction Real Life Story - By the Problem Gambler’s Network of West Virginia

The holiday season may be especially difficult for problem gamblers and their loved ones warns the help-line supervisor of the state’s gambling addiction treatment program.

“This time of year is particularly risky for folks with a gambling problem,” explains Steve Burton, help-line supervisor of the Problem Gamblers Help Network of West Virginia.

“For most people, spending a little extra money on holiday gifts does not create financial hardship. But problem gamblers may use the season’s demands for extra cash as a reason to increase their gambling, hoping to hit the jackpot and only succeed in further drive themselves into debt,” he said. At this time of year more than others, the gambling problem really impacts the loved ones.

“We have taken numerous calls on our help-line from loved ones who finally caught on to the gambling problem at holiday time,” Burton said. “These include calls from family members who discover that the gambler has spent all the money set aside for the children’s Christmas presents and who now have nothing to put under the tree. We also have taken calls where the gamblers have stolen other’s wrapped gifts from under the tree then returned them to the store for cash in order to use the money to gamble,” said Burton.

“Of course, one of the key signs of problem gambling is denial so we really encourage family members to call us for help even if the gambler won’t admit to a problem.”

Thirty percent of the 5,423 intake calls made to date since the start of the 1-800-GAMBLER help-line in August 2000 were made by spouses, children, and other family members concerned about a loved ones gambling problem.

“Family-related stress can also act as a trigger to send problem gamblers to the bars, bingo halls, and racetracks as an escape during the holidays,” Burton said, adding that people who don’t have families are also at-risk. “Many of the callers to our help-line say they gamble because they are lonely, bored or stressed. These moods can be more common during the holiday season,” he said.

No one knows the personal and financial hardship an untreated problem gambling can cause more then Ann Klinestiver of Milton, West Virginia.

Klinestiver, retired teacher who was married to a doctor says “in three years I managed to lie, steal, lose my husband of 45 years, and go through $300,000 gambling. Slot machines became the most important thing in my life. I had gone from knowing that I could afford whatever I wanted to living for days at a time on peanut butter-no bread or crackers-just peanut butter”, adds Klinestiver.

Before she got into recovery, she sent a holiday letter titled “An Angel Has Fallen” to her family at Christmas 2004.

In it she wrote “This is a letter asking you to keep that old/good image of me in your mind because I’m determined to be that again someday.”

That good image Klinestiver talks about was damaged due to several acts of desperation in her efforts to continue gambling.

“After I had lost all my money, maxed out my credit cards, borrowed from everyone I could, stolen from our safety deposit box things that were not mine, written bad checks, and sold nearly everything I treasured, I wish I could say I took some positive action.”

Finally, Klinestiver did take action. She called the Problem Gamblers Help Network for the second time in April, 2005 of West Virginia and was admitted to an in-patient gambling treatment program in Louisiana.

“This was a wonderful/awful time for me” Klinestiver says. “I made some terrific friends, felt more loved then I had in years, learned how to keep from gambling. Yet I also learned terrifying things about myself and my relationships.”

After returning from her in-patient stay, Klinestiver continued after-care at home in West Virginia with a specially trained in 1-800-GAMBLER provider network. Gambling free for nearly one year now, Klinestiver plans on spending her holidays and the new year living one day at a time, and adhering to her recovery program.

The National Council on Problem Gambling estimates that 2%-3% of the American population is addicted to gambling and is at higher risk for financial woes, family and relationship strains and suicide. The 1-800-GAMBLER help-line in West Virginia has taken over 5400 calls from problem gamblers and their loved ones since starting operation August 1, 2000.

For Klinestiver, the 1-800-GAMBLER help-line and confidential one-to-one counseling along with her local gambling support has been her saving grace, “my group and the Problem Gamblers Help-line staff probably have no idea how important they are to me. Through them I’ve begun to understand that I am not now nor will I ever again be alone in my battle.”

The Problem Gamblers Help Network is funded by the WV Lottery and administered by the WV DHHR- Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction.

The Problem Gamblers Help Network of West Virginia is a program created by the West Virginia Legislature to identify and provide services to problem gamblers and their loved ones. It is funded by the WV Lottery and administered by the West Virginia DHHR. The organization offers a 24-hour, toll-free, confidential 1-800-GAMBLER help-line where callers can get more information and a referral for a FREE consultation by a specially trained counselor in their local area.