Group seeks to help gamblers break the habit

Press, 25 February 1980, Page 13

Group seeks to help gamblers break the habit

More than 40 people have been helped to resist the gambling temptation since Gamblers Anonymous was started in Christchurch a year ago. The group was started by Dave, a compulsive gambler whose second wife threatened to divorce him if he did not do something about his gambling. Dave, who is the secretary of Gamblers Anonymous had already been told by psychiatrists and psychologists that they could do nothing for him. To . combat his problem, Dave said, he tried the techniques used by Gamblers Anonymous in the United States, similar to those used by Alcoholics Anonymous, but found that he could not do it without the “support and encouragement of other people.” The first meeting of the group in Christchurch was held on February 26, 1979. Nine people attended. The group meets at 8 p.m. each Monday at Aldersgate. Groups have also been set up in Wellington and Auckland, and groups in Dunedin and Hamilton are also planned. A support group for the wives and relatives of compulsive gamblers, Gam-Anon, meets on the first Thursday of each month. Most of the members were men, although there were hundreds of women in Christchurch who were “housie addicts” and did not realise they had a problem, Dave said.

Gambling was only now being recognised as a social disease. Everyone, from bankers and solicitors to labourers could be victims. The youngest member of the

Christchurch group was 18 the oldest over 60. All hac financial problems. Most compulsive gamblers had to “hit rock bottom before they will accept they have a problem,” Dave said. A compulsive gambler had an “insatiable thirst for gambling,” he bet more than he could afford. Gambling was prompted by greed, “getting something for nothing,” Dave said. The compulsive gambler either was emotionally insecure, wanted to be a “big-shot,” or sought escape from reality, dreaming of yachts, mink coats and a luxurious house. Even if he was lycky enough to have a big win on the horses, or ’in a game of cards the compulsive .gambler was never satisfied, always dreaming Of bigger and better things.

It was a disease for which there was no cure. Like the alcoholic, the compulsive gambler was jpst one bet (drink) away from the “path of destruction.” Group meetings were run by the members, Dave said. They talked about their problems and gave - each other support. There was noone more qualified to help a compulsive gambler than someone who had been through it, he said. The future of the group? It could only flourish. In a population of about 220 million in the United States, at least 10 million were compulsive gamblers. The New Zealand figures would be comparable, he said. Gamblers Anonymous did not hold official view on the introduction of casinos, “Lotto” and the like in New Zealand, but obvidusly these woqld not help the compulsive gambler, Dave said.