When Sports Gambling Becomes a Compulsion, All Bets Are Off

He awakens in the morning staring into the face of a monkey the size of Mighty Joe Young. And the monkey grabs him, and shakes him, and says what he always says, which is “Feed me!” And he does what he is told, because you don’t say no to a primate that big.

He is an addict, of course, a stone junkie, a whacked-out sicko, a careening-toward-destruction druggie. But he does not put anything up his nose, or shoot anything into his veins, or suck anything into his lungs. He is too smooth, too smart, too cool for that.

No, his habit, his Jones, his dependency is not some trendy powdery substance or cooked tropical leaf. Those things are for losers. What runs his show is an abstraction.

He is a compulsive gambler, and the high he craves is not the winning or the losing, it is the playing, the action. And the drug he uses to get off is cold, hard cash.

Gambling is one of those vices that confuses society.

Some states sanction many forms of betting--off-track betting, lottery, jai alai, greyhound racing, daily numbers--but prosecutes those involved in other forms such as sports betting.

Clergy rail against gambling from the pulpit, but sponsor bingo in the basement.

Newspapers editorialize against wagering on one page, but carry the “Latest Line” on another.

And what is the insurance industry other than the calculated wagering on the outcome of uncertain events?

If the logic of all this escapes you, Dallas Morning News sports columnist Blackie Sherrod explains:

“If you bet on a horse, that’s gambling. If you bet you can make three spades, that’s entertainment. If you bet cotton will go up three points, that’s business. See the difference?”

While a majority of people in the United States gamble in some form, 2% to 3% develop a gambling problem, according to Walter Miller, a psychiatric social worker and coordinator of the Connecticut Compulsive Gambling Treatment Program in Bridgeport.

Compulsive gambling is defined as the chronic, progressive and uncontrollable impulse to gamble.

Pete Rose, the Cincinnati Reds manager, former player, and potential Hall of Famer, might be among those who is nose to nose with the gambling monkey.

Rose is scheduled to meet with Baseball Commissioner Bart Giamatti next month to discuss a report regarding his alleged gambling activities. If it is determined he bet on baseball games, Rose could be suspended for a year. If there is proof he had money on games involving the Reds, he could be banned from baseball for life.

News accounts from varied sources over the past few months associate Rose with the following behavior:

--He always has a lot of cash on hand, always packs a fat roll.

--He will bet on anything, any time, even the coin toss at the start of a game.

--He has been known to watch three games simultaneously on television.

--He acknowledges that he bets a lot, but he vehemently denies he has a problem. He says that he does it to relax.

--His friends say he bets for the thrill, not the money.

--He owes a lot of money, and has sold many personal mementos.

--His friends tend toward the shady side.

--He might be in legal trouble with the IRS.

Dr. Marvin Steinberg, a clinical psychologist practicing in Hamden, Conn., has treated many compulsive gamblers. He is president of the Connecticut Council on Compulsive Gambling, a member of the National Council’s board of directors, an expert in the field. Some of the compulsive-gambling behaviors, according to Steinberg:

--Betting on anything: “A compulsive gambler needs to always be in the action. He’s always looking for a risk-taking venture and will use any opportunity, two flies, which raindrop will hit the window first.”

--Cash: “Carrying a lot of money makes the compulsive gambler feel good and gives him immediate reinforcement that he’s doing well, even though they may owe a zillion dollars. There’s the old story:

“Joe, a compulsive gambler, meets Bob and begs him for $100, claiming he needs the money to feed his wife and kids who are starving. Bob says how do I know you aren’t going to use the money to gamble? Oh, don’t worry about that, Joe says. I’ve got my gambling money right here in this pocket.”

--Selling off belongings: “Selling things that are important to him is one of the major hallmarks of a compulsive gambler. I treated a patient once who had meticulously restored an antique racing car with his son over a period of years. It was kind of a bond between them. But he got so desperate he sold it. And it was one of the most difficult things he had to face.”

--Watching three televisions: “Sports fans may exhibit this behavior at certain times of the year to follow a pennant race or something. The compulsive gambler does it all the time to follow the action.

--Becoming friendly with shady characters: “This doesn’t necessarily happen, though the gambler may become a shady character himself. Most compulsive gamblers at some time commit an illegal act.”

Scott is 30. He is married, has one child and another on the way. Last year his business did $1.5 million in sales. He is happy now, but six years ago he was contemplating suicide.

Scott grew up with three brothers, in a family where betting was common. In grammar school, he was peddling football slips to his classmates and covering the bets himself. When he was 16, he used the freedom his driver’s license provided to go to jai alai. In college, he took his student loan and used it to gamble.

Eventually, he stopped betting on sports and began betting on such things as cards and dice “because the action was more immediate. I didn’t want to have to wait for three hours until the game was over.”

After graduation, he held, and lost, several good jobs. He was also arrested for embezzlement three times, though he never did any time.

Scott’s friends and family tried to help him, tried to persuade him that he had a problem, but he could not see it.

“Toward the end, the winning or losing didn’t matter to me anymore,” Scott says. “I just wanted to be in the action, to feel the adrenaline and escape. Money had nothing to do with it.”

In debt, in trouble with the law, friendless, and thinking of ending it all, Scott finally reached rock bottom. He decided to try and get help. He had nothing left to lose. He was 24.

Scott began attending Gamblers Anonymous meetings, a program much like Alcoholics Anonymous. “I remember thinking at the first meeting that I wasn’t alone. People here had turned their lives around. If these guys could make it, so can I. So I stopped talking and started listening.”

Scott fits the profile of the average compulsive gambler, who is typically male (7-1 ratio), bright, competitive and manipulative.

“They’re also superficially social, sort of like a salesman,” social worker Miller says. “They have a hard time getting close to people as well as dealing with and identifying their feelings.”

On the other hand, Miller says “they are usually high energy, hard-working individuals, possessing many of the characteristics of the successful American male.”

In most cases, the compulsive gambler has to hit bottom before he can be helped.

“Usually the compulsive gambler is the last person to admit he has a problem,” Miller says. “Most of the time it takes a real shock to stop them, such as their wife leaving or them getting thrown in jail.”

Once the compulsive gambler seeks help, intense therapy is the treatment.

“We try to make use of the crisis and get the person to accept as much as possible about themselves. The first few months we deal with the crisis, further along we try to help the person learn more about himself.”

One of the first things the compulsive gambler does with the assistance of an organization like Gamblers Anonymous is to set up a schedule to repay his debts, which often are staggering. The repayment schedules are structured so that the gambler can live while making restitution. The lengthy repayments also serve as long-term and continuing reinforcement. Other arrangements aimed at keeping the gambler away from cash, such as signing over checking and saving accounts to a spouse, are employed.

But perhaps more than anything else, Gamblers Anonymous provides the compulsive gambler with access to people who understand him, peers who have experienced what he has, and have been able to turn their lives around.