“The gamblers' fantasies may range from grandiose plans for the future to desperate dreams of solving a financial or emotional crisis.”
Source: GAMES COMPULSIVE GAMBLERS and WE PLAY Second Edition
“Even in the face of current losses, the gamblers are convinced that the next bet will result in a win so huge that all debts will be paid, and there will be money left over to buy that house, or take the family on vacation, or buy the new car.”
Source: GAMES COMPULSIVE GAMBLERS and WE PLAY Second Edition
“In the gamblers' minds, a win buys respect, soothes a loved one's anger, salvages relationships, and makes past disappointments disappear.”
Source: GAMES COMPULSIVE GAMBLERS and WE PLAY Second Edition
“With the dreams in their heads, the gamblers are immune to the reality and pain of the current desperate situation.”
Source: GAMES COMPULSIVE GAMBLERS and WE PLAY Second Edition
“Years after my husband stopped gambling he was speaking at a combined GA/Gam-Anon meeting. He mentioned the time he phoned me after he left the racetrack to tell me that he won and I was going to be able to buy the new winter coat I needed. I never received that call. The fantasy he created that night was so real that years later he remembered it as if it really happened.”
Source: GAMES COMPULSIVE GAMBLERS and WE PLAY Second Edition
“Gamblers hide the compulsive gambling so well that the non-gamblers are unaware of it. They may be aware of recreational, affordable gambling, but have no idea that the gambling has gone beyond that. The gamblers use access to family funds, business funds, credit lines and credit cards to gamble and use the love and trust of non-gamblers to their advantage.”
Source: GAMES COMPULSIVE GAMBLERS and WE PLAY Second Edition
“The gamblers calculate exactly how much time spent with family and friends, how much loving attention given to them, and how much money spent on and with them will be enough and not draw awareness to the time, attention and money that is being withheld.”
Source: GAMES COMPULSIVE GAMBLERS and WE PLAY Second Edition
“As the tobacco industry knew with its lectures to high schoolers informing them that smoking is only for adults, the best way to ensure young people are interested in doing something is to tell them they are not allowed to do it.”
Source: Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling
“We were alone, quiet, but everything we weren’t saying sounded loud, so loud among that sunlight and glass.”
Source: Make Your Way Home: Stories
“If a business sells alcohol to someone who is clearly intoxicated, and that person commits personal or property damage, the business that sold them the booze can be held partly liable. These laws place the onus on suppliers to ensure their customers behave safely and to remove any incentive to overserve someone in pursuit of profit. Levant asks why sportsbooks should not be partly liable if they allow someone with an obvious gambling problem to continue betting and that person commits a financial crime to keep up their habit.”
Source: Losing Big: America's Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling