“If I drank too much, I would get shut down and they would not serve me any more liquor. But
no matter how much I gambled, I was encouraged to gamble more. In fact, the more I gambled,
the more incentives I received to keep gambling.”
“I lost nearly everything…my job, my wife and I became filled with thoughts of wanting to kill
myself that were hard to turn off.”
Fortunately, John found Gamblers Anonymous. He self-excluded with the State of Pennsylvania
for life – a voluntary program to ban oneself from gambling in a variety of physical and digital
spaces: https://responsibleplay.pa.gov/self-exclusion/. John attends weekly Gamblers
Anonymous meetings and counseling sessions so he can begin to repair his life. He is
determined repay the debt that has piled up in excess of $75,000. And today he has hope.
Something John had lost when he first walked through those doors of Gamblers Anonymous.
March is Problem Gambling Awareness Month. This year’s theme is “Caring Communities,
Stronger Futures” and stresses the importance of communities coming together to bring
awareness and support of problem gambling.
If you or someone you know is struggling with a gambling problem, the National Problem
Gambling HelplineTM offers free, confidential support 24/7:
Call 1-800-MY-RESET
Text 800GAM
Chat at www.NCPGambling.org/chat.
For more information, visit https://www.ncpgambling.org/pa-resources/2026-pgam-toolkit/