Tuesday, November 14, 2006

As the rain whips leaves against the window, 10 women gathered around a
conference room table describe how gambling destroyed their lives. "I went
through my daughter's college fund," says one. "I've committed crimes,
stolen from employers, lost $100,000," says another. "My mother, who was
dying of cancer, came to the casino at 4 a.m. to get me," says a third. "I
was in a casino when she died." Collectively, the members of this
confidential support group have gambled away $3 million. They've hocked
jewelry, lied to their husbands, stolen from friends, threatened suicide.
Before they blew their savings and mortgage on video poker and line games,
they worked as writers and office managers, and instructed new lawyers. For
the first time since 1995, when researchers began studying Oregonians'
gambling patterns, more women are seeking treatment for addiction than men.
The most high-profile Portland-area case is Elma Magkamit, the former West
Linn finance director who will be sentenced this week for stealing $1.4
million from city funds to feed her slot-machine addiction. Magkamit's game
of choice was not unusual, experts say. Women prefer the privacy of video
slots to card games, sports betting or other forms of gambling that men
typically pursue. And since last year, when the Oregon Lottery legalized
video line games, the machines are easier to find. That worries addiction
counselors, who say the number of women seeking treatment will increase.
"We're just beginning to see the slots players coming into treatment," said
Peter Walsh, program manager at Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare, which treats
problem gamblers. "You don't have to go to the Coast; you can go to the
corner restaurant or delicatessen, and each is like a minicasino in itself."
Oregon appears to be mirroring an international trend, said Rachel Volberg,
president of Gemini Research, a company that specializes in studies of
gambling and problem gambling. She said the number of women calling gambling
addiction help lines in the United States and abroad has increased in the
past five years. "Part of it probably is a function of more women gambling,"
she said, "but I think it's also a function of the problem gambling advocacy
community getting the word out to people." In many ways, Magkamit, 53, fits
the profile of a typical problem gambler in Oregon, studies show: Most are
between 45 and 54 years old, married, have attended college and earn $50,000
or more a year in a professional or technical field.