A Family's Struggle: Fighting Gambling Addiction

"People that are addicted to gambling are much like people addicted to drugs. You dont know what they are willing to do to get their hands on a little bit of cash," says one West Alabama woman who's family has been affected by gambling addiction, "It's just a way to relieve stress and pain, and things that are going on in your life, so maybe there's some deeper things going on."

That's a problem that many people face in America, and right here in west Alabama. The West Alabama woman WVUA spoke with told us some of the signs to look out for.

"They'll be gone for long periods of time, and not knowing exactly where they were and sort of vague stories about where they were. And of course the money situation," while she talked about the stuggle,"It's put a lot of stress on everyone. And makes it very difficult to know when to trust and when to not trust."

And because of the lack of trust, a feeling of helplessness washed over the entire family. "It a feeling of desperateness, because you want help so much but it's like you can't stop them. And no matter what you say or what you do, they're going to find a way to go," as the West Alabama woman told us how she looked out for other families, "It's just painful to watch a family member suffer and really they are suffering. And it makes everybody in the family suffer because you're watching it and you're having to deal with the fall out problems that come because of gambling."

The West Alabama woman also says the suffering reaches beyond the walls of their homes and into the community.


"When we say well, thats not my problem, well, it is your problem because we are talking about our community being destroyed by gambling. You might think, well, 'I can go gambling and it doesn't bother me, you know, I'm not addicted' but you cant just discount these people that are addicted, because we're not talking about people that are below us, drags of the community, we're talking about your brother, your sister, my mother, my father. It could be any one of you. Whether it's a family member or not, friend or anybody that you know, be so controlled and be so you know cant stop something and it's just controlling their life and taking over every aspect of they're life and that's what they live for."

By WVUA's Matt McCoy July 27th, 2010 6:15 p.m.

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News & Politics

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[McNaBzL]

nice chin!!!!!