wfn.org | Addictive gambling has domino effect on family, community

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

July 6, 2000 News media contact: Thomas S. McAnally·(615)742-5470·Nashville,
Tenn.  10-71B{320}

NOTE:  The following feature was written to support an effort by United
Methodists in South Dakota to defeat a video lottery proposal that will be
on the ballot in the state this November. Speaking at the recent Dakotas
Annual Conference, the Rev. Tom Grey of the National Coalition Against
Gambling urged defeat of the proposal. "The national industry is watching,"
he said.  "This battle can be won."  

A UMNS News Feature
By Donna Fisher*

When Denise Larson's brother started playing video lottery 10 years ago, it
was just something to do in the quiet little towns of Kingsbury County,
South Dakota. However, caught in the seductive grip of flashing colors and
the occasional payout, Terry Pratt, then nearly 30, became a person his
sister hardly recognized.

What began as fun became an obsession. The problems didn't appear overnight,
Larson said. Addictive gamblers hide the habit very well. "My father would
see him at the machines around town." As Terry's addiction grew, he pulled
away from his family. "I don't think he was home much, and the extended
family didn't see him a lot when he was gambling; that was one of our signs.

"It's hard to find words for the state he was in when the addiction was so
powerful. I prayed a lot for him," Larson said. "One time I asked him,
What's it gonna take for you to quit? And he said he didn't know. It took
the South Dakota Penitentiary. If he wouldn't have gone to jail, he would
still be at the machines."

Because of Pratt's addiction, the emotional and financial impact on the
whole family was staggering. Larson said her brother got in trouble with
debt and bad checks, lost his farm, lied to his family, and stole. 

"What lengths he would go to get money to gamble was unbelievable," Larson
said. "He would use his family, call places and charge calls to his
80-year-old grandmother's phone.  We couldn't believe he would do it. His
addiction was that powerful. He would do what he needed to do to get money
to gamble."

Larson, her husband Kris, a candidate for ministry and part-time local
pastor, and their families are what folks label as "good church people."
What they saw happening to Pratt drove them to seek understanding about his
addiction, to get information to protect themselves, and to try to help
Pratt's parents understand. 

"It was really tough for my mom and dad," she recalled. "Terry's concept of
time was gone. He could be at the machines for hours and lose all sense of
time. I was the one who called the gambling counselor and took my parents so
we all could know what was going on. People don't understand what a video
lottery addiction does, not just to the person, but to the family, the
businesses, to everybody. It has a domino effect."

Sometimes the counseling helped, but then the gambling and the destructive
behavior would start again, she said. "If you're addicted you can't stop.
The machines are always there."

During the years of Pratt's addiction, his mother and father died. "The
toughest thing was what it did to my parents," Larson recalled. " I spent a
lot of time with my dad working through this. With addictions, what you need
to do is the hardest thing - maybe even to pick up the phone and call the
authorities."

As the family members learned about gambling addiction, they began to talk
to others. "Talking about it helps educate others, too," Larson said. "If I
said my brother was addicted to video lottery, they'd mention a name of
someone they knew who was addicted. I'm going to put my anger into action.
We needed to protect ourselves. Sometimes it might mean calling a
rehabilitation center and finding out how to protect yourself when the
gambler is doing illegal activity."

Pratt was sentenced to the penitentiary for grand theft. "In prison, he
found the Lord, and that has made the difference," Larson said.  "When I
think of all the families out there and what video lottery is doing to them,
it makes you want to cry."

#  #  #

*Fisher is editor of the Dakotas Connection, the newspaper of the Dakotas
Conference of the United Methodist Church. 

*************************************
United Methodist News Service
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