My mother is 65 years old, and spends a lot of time at the casinos. She goes there on a bus with senior citizens, most of whom are over 80. My dad and I believe that she has developed a very serious gambling addiction. She spends all of her social security check every month (over 700 dollars) at the casinos on Bingo games and slot machines. She stays at the casinos when she goes until after midnight. When she is not at the casinos, she is unhappy and talks only about wanting to go to or be at the casino. Or, she spends all day online playing casino-like games on the computer. Even when she is out of money, she still wants to go to the casino, or tries to borrow money from others, or from my dad, who resists, because it is only feeding her habit. As a result, she is often very angry with him for “withholding” money from her. Over thanksgiving, my parents came to our house, but my mom was not herself. She seemed very angry, and very depressed, and talked only about wanting to go to the casino that is near our home. It seemed like she did not want to spend time with anyone. Instead, on Thanksgiving night, she closed herself in the bedroom and did not come out til the next day. She told my dad that night that she wanted to swallow a bunch of pills and kill herself,l something she has never said before. She is depressed and angry. we believe gambling addiction has completely taken over her life. We fell like we are losing her. She does not want to admit it and just gets angry. We don’t know how to help…We don’t want to lose her! I pray that God would deliver her from this addiction and that we would know how to help her-and that she would realize she has a problem
By: Lenore