Gamblers Anonymous In British Prison

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31941, 19 March 1969, Page 7

Gamblers Anonymous In British Prison

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) LONDON, March 17. Compulsive gambling leading to crime is causing growing concern to British prison authorities. This was one of the conclusions reached at a conference in London organised by the Churches’ Council on Gambling and attended by psychiatrists, probation and welfare officers, and prison staff, writes Norman Fowler, of “The Times.”

Mr Ray Ball, a London probation officer who founded the first branch of Gamblers’ Anonymous at Wandsworth Prison, said that one of the difficulties was to recognise the existence of compulsive gambling. When he was at Wandsworth, he said, he found a group of prisoners who were unwilling to talk about themselves. Their common characteristics seemed to be that they had come to crime late, that they gambled heavily, and that there was a desire—strange in a prison—to separate themselves from their fellow-prisoners. After Gamblers’ Anonymous had been formed, these prisoners gradually began to talk freely about themselves, and the extent of their dependence on gambling became clear.

One prisoner said: "Until I stopped gambling I did not know if the sun was shining or if it was raining. I did not notice who sat next to me on a bus or who took my fare.”

Another said: “Gambling occupied all my waking hours. If I was not actually doing it I would be thinking of the bets I would make, or scheming to get the money for it.” A third said: “I was surprised I did not commit motoring offences. All the time I was driving I was making bets in my mind—doubling and trebling up.” Another prisoner, who had a newspaper every day, would tear out the sports page before lending it to anyone else.

Money was necessary for gambling, and Mr Ball said that the compulsive gambler was ready to beg, borrow or steal it in his life outside prison. The prisoners’ offences ranged throughout the sections and sub-sections of the Theft Act. One of the Wandsworth group broke into schools and stole money or anything that could be sold; another stole lead from roofs. As'their offences were seldom planned, but committed to satisfy their urgent need

of money for gambling, they were usually caught fairly easily. Mr Ball said that one of the most serious effects was for the family of the compulsive gambler. Debts and threats of eviction were fairly common, and gamblers were often mistrusted. This raised difficulties when a prisoner was released. After the formation of Gamblers’ Anonymous, regular meetings were held for the prisoners. One member used the opportunity to lower tobacco, papers and matches on a long piece of string to the punishment cells below the meeting and, as a result, was punished. But, generally, the group achieved much at Wandsworth, and several of its members settled down to a normal life after release. Mr Ball recommended that a branch of Gamblers’ Anonymous should be formed in every large prison. Commenting on this proposal, the Rev. Gordon Moody, the general secretary of the Churches’ Council on Gambling, said that Gamblers’ Anonymous was formed in Britain in 1964 and was run on similar lines to Alcoholics

Anonymous. It was basically a fellowship of compulsive gamblers who were helping one another to tackle their addiction, and to ' rebuild their lives. BELIEF IN FATE Mr Moody said that >there was no doubt some compulsive gamblers took to crime to raise the money to gamble; but when the gambler took money he was often confident that he would be able to repay it out of his winnings. On the causes of gambling, Dr F. R. C. Casson, one of the honorary, psychiatrists to Gamblers’ Anonymous, said the gambler often had a belief in fate and fortune. He believed that external omens determined his fate rather more than his own efforts. Opportunity was another important factor, and people who handled money, such as salesmen, taxi-drivers and milkmen, might be tempted to gamble. Dr Casson said that in other cases it could be a sign of insecurity. Examples of this might be the immigrant settling in a new country,! often with hopes of making) a speedy fortune, or men fel-! lowing insecure careers, sucb as in show business