Category Archives: Gambling

LANSING (WJRT) (2/12/2020) - State regulators forced five Mid-Michigan businesses to stop offering illegal gambling.

The Michigan Gaming Control Board and Michigan Attorney General's Office collaborated on an enforcement effort during 2019 targeting illegal gambling operations.

Statewide, 12 businesses received cease and desist orders, five of which are located in Mid-Michigan:

Lapeer County-- Fortunes Skilled Gaming Lounge at 1777 South Cedar St. in Imlay City.-- Atlantis Internet Caf at 759 East St. in Lapeer.-- Jackpot Island Caf at 700 S. Main St. in Lapeer.

Genesee County-- Burton Redemption Center at 5515 Davison Road in Burton.-- Monte Carlo Caf at 723 S. State Road in Davison.

Each of the businesses that state regulators investigated claimed to operate redemption games, which are legal because they are based on skill and not chance. However, the businesses forced to close actually were offering casino-style video slot machines.

Richard Kalm, who is executive director of the Michigan Gaming Control Board, said illegal gambling often leads to money laundering and other crimes that jeopardize public safety.

Legal gambling is taxed and regulated, and taxes go back into the community as funding for K-12 education," he said. "An illegal gambling operation doesnt support the community but instead siphons funds away from it.

Each of the 12 businesses who received cease and desist orders decided to close, rather than face a 10-year felony charge of operating an unlicensed gambling business.

Gambling regulations are in place for a reason, and when bad actors choose to ignore the law, they must be held accountable, Nessel said.

Originally posted here:

State orders 5 illegal gambling operations to close in Mid-Michigan - ABC 12 News

Three men were arrested, four businesses were searched and more than $27,000 in alleged gambling proceeds were seized following a Hall County Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad sting.

The MANS unit used undercover officers to gather evidence before the searches and arrests Feb. 7.

Lt. Don Scalia said the search warrants were served simultaneously at businesses owned and operated by the three men arrested.

At Cafe Amigo on Browns Bridge Road in Gainesville, Scalia said officers found nine video gambling machines, more than $4,700 in gambling proceeds, receipts and other evidence of the crimes charged.

Three video gambling machines and more than $6,100 in proceeds were found at Mercado El Sol on Atlanta Highway in Gainesville, Scalia said.

Scalia said officers also found four video gambling machines and more than $6,200 in proceeds at Little Giant Grocery on Atlanta Highway in Gainesville.

The largest amount of alleged gambling proceeds was discovered at Coin Laundry Lavanderia on Atlanta Highway in Gainesville, where Scalia said they found four video gambling machines and $10,100 in proceeds.

Scalia said there are arrests pending further investigation regarding Coin Laundry Lavanderia.

Jung Yop Choo, 44, Jose Ulloa-Gonzalez, 51, and Navshadalia Momin, 62, were charged with commercial gambling.

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More than $27000 in alleged gambling proceeds seized in Hall investigation - Gainesville Times

The XFL is embracing sports betting more than any other U.S. professional or collegiate league ever has.

While the NFL and other leagues spent years fighting in court to stop the spread of sports betting, the XFL kicked off its reboot by consulting with bookmakers on new rules and encouraging media partners to infuse gambling into broadcasts. The XFL may be just starting, but it appears it is already ahead of the gambling game. Now, we'll see if it pays off.

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For decades, the traditional leagues in the U.S. kept their distance from sports betting, concerned gambling would tarnish the integrity of the games. At the same time, even though commissioners and owners may have been reluctant to admit it, they benefited from fantasy sports and bettors participating in the massive underground and offshore sports betting industries. Former baseball commissioner Bud Selig once testified that sports betting is "evil, creates doubt and destroys your sport."

Times have changed. Legal bookmakers now operate in more than a dozen states, and, at least to this point, sports have survived. The NBA, the NHL and MLB each have official betting partners, and the NFL is moving in that direction. None of them, however, are as all-in on betting as the newest league on the block, the XFL, which, instead of shying away from the gambling industry, is determined to "embrace the spread."

"This notion of embracing the spread," XFL president Jeffrey Pollack said, "means that our mission, our design and our business infrastructure are all geared to the sports betting future that's coming fast.

"We see a lot of pros to leaning into the sports betting world," he added. "It's what our fans want. We don't see cons, we see opportunity."

When creating its rules and scoring system, the XFL kept the bettor in mind and even bounced ideas off Las Vegas sportsbook operators to see what worked and what didn't.

"I thought it was very interesting," John Murray, executive director of the SuperBook at Westgate Las Vegas, said of the informal calls with the XFL. "It was cool just to talk to the guys who were starting a new football league and see what kind of ideas they had."

The XFL landed on rules aimed at condensing the game. They wanted to increase the pace of play, eliminate virtually automatic plays like kicking extra points and enhance timing rules to improve comeback opportunities and keep the spread in play longer.

The XFL's play clock is 25 seconds (it's 40 seconds in the NFL), and the game clock stops only briefly, except for the final two minutes of each half, called "comeback periods." The goal was to deliver a similar number of plays per game as the NFL but in less than three hours. NFL games during the 2019 regular season averaged 126.8 offensive snaps and 45.6 points per game. The first four XFL games averaged 124 offensive plays and 38.5 points.

After touchdowns, teams choose between going for one point from the 2-yard line, two points from the 5-yard line or three points from the 10-yard line. "This enhances a team's ability to make a comeback," XFL senior vice president strategy and business development John Scheler said. "Your bet's in play longer because the team potentially has the ability to come back and cover the spread."

Overtime is decided by a pseudo-shootout, with teams alternating single plays from the 5-yard line. Each score is worth two points.

The rule tweaks to timing and scoring were a challenge for oddsmakers. Not knowing how coaches would handle the new options after touchdowns and their success rate on those attempts reduced the value of the traditional key numbers -- most notably three and seven -- that bettors are accustomed to in the NFL and college football. Out of the 19 touchdowns scored in the four games over the weekend, coaches elected for the 1-point option 11 times and the 2-point option eight times. They were successful on four 1-point chances and three 2-point chances.

Creating a point spread, though, was not the toughest task for oddmakers in Week 1. Setting the over/under was.

Circa Sports, a new bookmaking operation in downtown Las Vegas, was the first sportsbook to put up totals on the four Week 1 games. They admitted the process of setting the totals was not sophisticated.

"For me, it was a huge guess," Circa sportsbook manager Chris Bennett said with a chuckle.

Last Thursday, Circa opened at 40.5 for each game. The first wave of bets came in, all on the over in each game. In less than three hours, the totals on each game climbed into the 50s.

Three of the four Week 1 games went under the total.

For years, play-by-play announcers like Brent Musburger and Al Michaels slyly worked gambling references into broadcasts. "Some baskets are more meaningful than others," Musburger might say in regards to a basket that affected the spread. Michaels is known to describe a late score that pushes the game over the total as "overwhelming."

There were no veiled references, though, in the weekend's XFL games. Instead, announcers were overt, and the odds were front and center.

Point spreads and over/unders were displayed alongside the scores on the XFL broadcasts on ESPN and Fox, and advertisements for the sponsoring sportsbooks like Caesars and FoxBet popped up from time to time.

In the fourth quarter of the Seattle Dragons-D.C. Defenders game Saturday, ESPN color man Greg McElroy joked about the disappointment fans who bet the over must have felt when the Dragons elected to take points off the board after a running into the kicker penalty, only to squander the ensuing scoring opportunity by fumbling deep inside D.C. territory.

For many sports betting proponents, the odds-infused broadcasts were what they envisioned when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal statute in 2018, allowing states to decide whether to regulate gambling.

Joe Favorito, a longtime sports marketing consultant in New Jersey, was watching the St. Louis-Dallas game Sunday with his 21-year-old son, who asked what the "O/U 52.5" meant on the scoreboard on the bottom of the screen.

"[He] was casually following XFL and had no idea of the floating betting lines," Favorito told ESPN. "He assumed it was another deep dive into stats, not gambling. He figured it was similar to when 'SOG' appeared on a hockey scoreboard for shots on goal or when MLB suddenly added 'MV' for mound visits and 'PC' for pitch count to scoreboards. ... He became more engaged immediately."

At Caesars Sportsbook in Nevada, less than $10,000 total was bet on the point spread for the opening game between the Dragons and Defenders. It might not sound like a lot -- and compared to the hundreds of thousands of dollars normally bet on NFL games, it's not -- but it was notable and was more than the amount bet on many of Saturday's college basketball games and even some NBA games.

"I think there's an interest, but it's just not something I think people have confidence to bet on yet, on the public side of things," Caesars senior oddsmaker Alan Berg said.

In New Jersey, sportsbook FanDuel said "20 times" as much money was bet on the first XFL game as was bet on the first game of the now defunct Alliance of American Football League. XFL betting increased from Saturday to Sunday by 55%, according to FanDuel.

The XFL believes it's only the beginning of the league's relationship to the sports betting industry, which unlike its predecessors, it has decided to embrace from the opening kickoff. The XFL has announced multiple betting partners, launched a new free-play gaming app (PlayXFL) and hired sports data company Genius Sports to provide integrity services.

"The XFL should be applauded for its proactive stance in engaging with the sports betting industry," Chris Dougan, spokesman for Genius Sports, said. "From its inception, the league has embraced best practices with operators and built strong relationships with the state regulators. By requiring all XFL players, coaches and officials to participate in our online integrity program, the league has made education a key pillar in preventing threats of betting corruption."

The two XFL games broadcast on ABC and ESPN averaged to 2.9 viewers. There was buzz on social media and at sportsbooks. The XFL is determined to make it last by, in part, being the most betting-friendly league in the U.S.

"For a lot of our fans," Pollack, the XFL's president said, "free-to-play gaming, fantasy and legal sports betting have become [as] essential to the football experience as the helmet, ball and jersey."

Originally posted here:

All-in on gambling - XFL embracing betting from the get-go - ESPN

HALL COUNTY, Ga. - A Hall County investigation into illegal gambling has ended with the arrest of three suspectsat multiple stores around the county.

The three suspects were arrested during an undercover investigation into gambling in Hall County. (MANS Gang Task Force)

Officials say on Feb. 7, officers with the MANS Task Force, the Hall County Sheriff's Office, and the Georgia Lottery Corp. searched four businesses simultaneously looking for illegal video gambling machines.

The search operations were part of a multi-week undercover operation into gambling, officials said.

During the operation, police say they arrested three suspects at the businesses allegedly owned and operated by the men.

At the first location, Cafe Amigo on the 1500 block of Browns Bridge Road in Gainesville, officers say they arrested Jung Yop Choo and found nine video gambling machines, receipts, and other $4,700 in gambling proceeds.

Hall County deputies bust three business owners and charged them in connection to a gambling sting

The second location, Mercado El Sol on the 1800 block of Atlanta Highway in Gainesville, ended with the arrest of Jose Ulloa-Gonzalez and the seizure of over $6,000 in gaming proceeds. Officials also found three video gambling machines.

Officials arrested Navshadalia Momin at the third location, Little Giant Grocery on the 1900 block of Atlanta Highway. At this location, officers found four video gambling machines, receipts and over $6,200 in gambling proceeds.

Arrests are still pending at afourth location, Coin Laundry Lavanderia, at which officers found over $10,000 in gambling proceeds and four video gambling machines.

The three suspects are now booked into the Hall County Jail charged with commercial gambling and keeping a gambling place.

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Officers: 3 arrested in undercover Hall County gambling operation - FOX 5 Atlanta

The benefits that one can get from gambling on online platforms are various and manifold. In this article, we highlight some of the advantages that users can expect to get when gambling online.

High Returns

The gaming titles on casino platforms appear deceptively simple, so much so that users begin to believe that there arent many returns associated with them. However, the reality is quite different. In fact, there isnt much of a difference between the profits that one can reap from online platforms and traditional casinos. Users can expect to win anything from a few thousands to even millions of dollars. With the addition of the cryptocurrencies, they can even take advantage of the fluctuations in the price of the tokens, which further allows them to increase the value of their returns.

Pay-out Ratios

There is fierce competition between casino platforms which ultimately works in favour of the users. In order to attract customers their pay-out rates reach up to 95% or even more. Needless to say, these are much higher than traditional casino which makes up much of the lure of the online casinos. Furthermore, the casinos are not required to build or maintain lavish buildings, which allows them to bump up the pay-out rates further. Many of the UK online casino have ultra-high pay-out rates for these reasons. One would do well to check out these casinos and start winning huge sums today.

Anonymity

Another benefit of these platforms is the anonymous gameplay that users can engage in. Instead of loitering in a traditional casino trying to figure out which gaming titles to gamble on, one can quite easily select their favourite titles and game from ones home.

Promotional Offers

There are numerous promotional offers available on these platforms as well which are non-existent in traditional casinos. These can double the amount recharged and increase ones bankroll. This, in turn, allows one to increase ones play-time and get additional opportunities to hit that much coveted jackpot.

Convenience

The convenience that these platforms provide is truly unparalleled. Users can cosy up in their beds and start gambling without having to worry about casino regulations. The flexibility of game-play allows one to play at ones own pace and get comfortable without having to answer to anybody.

Size of the Bets

There can be tight restrictions placed in traditional casinos regarding the size of the wagers. However, the minimum wager that online platforms allow is quite low chiefly because the cost of maintaining these platforms is minimal. This allows users to get the most out of their budgets and play for longer hours.

Gaming Catalogues

Though traditional casino platforms have quite an extensive gaming repertoire, they are nevertheless restricted by the titles that they have. This problem however doesnt plague online casino platforms. The reason for this is that there is no limit to the number of games that an online catalogue can contain which allows them to ever expand their gaming list.

All the popular gaming titles that software developers come up with are included in the catalogue on a regular basis much to the delight of the users, thereby ensuring that every gambler has something or the other to satisfy their tastes. With the current technology there has been an unprecedented rise in the quality of these gaming titles and the opportunity to try out some unique titles.

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The Benefits of Online Gambling - The Boca Raton Tribune

Last month, former Biglaw partner Kym Cushing was suspended from the practice of law by the Supreme Court of Nevada for nine months. The courts suspension comes after serious concerns about Cushings addiction issues and honesty.

According tothe courts opinion, Cushing, who worked at Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker from 2005 to 2018, wrote three checks to himself from the firms operating account. When confronted about the checks, Cushing first told the firm they were to reimburse expert witness outlays, naming a friend (and pro bono client) as the expert. However, Cushing later told the firm the checks were to cover gambling losses. As a result, the firm asked him to resign.

After being forced out at Wilson Elser, he rebounded with a position at Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith. However, during the lateral move, Cushing failed to disclose why he left his old firm. This was rectified by Wilson Elser, who reportedly shared with Lewis Brisbois the circumstances surrounding Cushings departure. Cushing no longer works at Lewis Brisbois.

Cushing later rescinded his gambling losses explanation for his behavior, saying in a demand letter to the law firm seeking $5 million in compensation for alleged age and disability discrimination and retaliation that he claimed a gambling problem to save his job. He now claims he actually wrote the checks in a drunken stupor. Additionally, he claimed he turned to alcohol to deal with the stress of the go-to attorney for difficult cases.

In 2018, Cushings behavior was first brought to the Supreme Court of Nevada. Then Cushing agreed to treatment with the Nevada Lawyers Assistance Program to avoid suspension. Unfortunately, Cushing did not follow through with the program and lied about his reasons for doing so.

All of which brings us to the instant case. Asreported by Bloomberg Law, the court felt this history was enough to warrant the nine-month suspension:

Substantial evidence supports the disciplinary panels findings that Cushings mental state was intentional and that his misconduct harmed the public and the legal profession and potentially harmed his pro bono client, the court said in determining the sanction. It conceded, however, that there were mitigating factors including his emotional problems and lack of prior discipline.

Cushing, who says he is extremely disappointed with the decision, can apply for reinstatement, provided he completes the Nevada Lawyers Assistance Program, an anger management program, and an additional 10 hours of CLE credits, five hours of which must be on the subject of substance abuse.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email herwith any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

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Writing Yourself Checks From A Firm Account And Lying About Gambling Addiction Isn't Okay, Even For Biglaw Partners - Above the Law

Overview

Compulsive gambling, also called gambling disorder, is the uncontrollable urge to keep gambling despite the toll it takes on your life. Gambling means that you're willing to risk something you value in the hope of getting something of even greater value.

Gambling can stimulate the brain's reward system much like drugs or alcohol can, leading to addiction. If you have a problem with compulsive gambling, you may continually chase bets that lead to losses, hide your behavior, deplete savings, accumulate debt, or even resort to theft or fraud to support your addiction.

Compulsive gambling is a serious condition that can destroy lives. Although treating compulsive gambling can be challenging, many people who struggle with compulsive gambling have found help through professional treatment.

Signs and symptoms of compulsive gambling (gambling disorder) include:

Unlike most casual gamblers who stop when losing or set a loss limit, people with a compulsive gambling problem are compelled to keep playing to recover their money a pattern that becomes increasingly destructive over time.

Some people with a compulsive gambling problem may have remission where they gamble less or not at all for a period of time. However, without treatment, the remission usually isn't permanent.

Have family members, friends or co-workers expressed concern about your gambling? If so, listen to their worries. Because denial is almost always a feature of compulsive or addictive behavior, it may be difficult for you to realize that you have a problem.

If you recognize your own behavior from the list of signs and symptoms for compulsive gambling, seek professional help.

Exactly what causes someone to gamble compulsively isn't well-understood. Like many problems, compulsive gambling may result from a combination of biological, genetic and environmental factors.

Although most people who play cards or wager never develop a gambling problem, certain factors are more often associated with compulsive gambling:

Compulsive gambling can have profound and long-lasting consequences for your life, such as:

Although there's no proven way to prevent a gambling problem, educational programs that target individuals and groups at increased risk may be helpful.

If you have risk factors for compulsive gambling, consider avoiding gambling in any form, people who gamble and places where gambling occurs. Get treatment at the earliest sign of a problem to help prevent gambling from becoming worse.

Oct. 22, 2016

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Compulsive gambling - Symptoms and causes - Mayo Clinic

GamblingAndTaxes

In gambling, there are winners and losers. But even the winners can be losers if they don't pay their taxes! Any money you win gambling or wagering is considered taxable income by the IRS. So is the fair market value of any item you win. Gambling income isn't just card games and casinos; it includes winnings from racetracks, game shows, lotteries, and even Bingo. Certain special rules apply to gambling income, and there are strict recordkeeping requirements. However, you may be able to deduct gambling losses.

The easiest and most accurate way to find out how to report your gambling winnings and losses is to start a free tax return on eFile.com.Based on your answers to several questions, the e-File app will select and prepare the forms necessary to report your gambling winnings and losses on your tax return. However, if you want to learn more about how your gambling income affects your taxes, read on.

Gambling income is almost always taxable income. This includes cash and the fair market value of any item you win. By law, gambling winners must report all of their winnings on their federal income tax returns. Depending on the amount of your winnings, you may receive one or more Forms W-2G, which reports the amount of your winnings, as well as the amount of tax that was withheld, if any. You will need these forms to prepare and file or e-file your tax return. Remember that, even if you do not get a Form W-2G, you must report all gambling winnings on your return.

Gambling winnings include, but are not limited to, money or prizes earned from:

Your gambling winnings are generally subject to a flat 24% tax. However, for the following sources listed below, gambling winnings over $5,000 are subject to income tax withholding:

If you win a non-cash prize, such as a car or a trip, you will be responsible for paying taxes on the fair market value of each prize. Depending upon the amount of your winnings and the type of gambling, the establishment or payer may be required to withhold income taxes. In general, 24% of the amount is required to be withheld. In some cases, a backup withholding of 24% is required instead. If tax is withheld from your gambling winnings, you will be sent a W2-Gform from the payer.

You may deduct gambling losses if you itemize your deductions. You can deduct your losses only up to the amount of your total gambling winnings. You must generally report your winnings and losses separately, rather than reporting a net amount.

Gambling losses are deducted on Schedule A as a miscellaneous deduction and are not subject to a 2% limit. This means that you can deduct all losses up to the amount of your winnings, not just the amount over 2% of your adjusted gross income. When you prepare and e-file your return on eFile.com, the eFile app will automatically generate Schedule A and add it to your return based on the deduction information you enter.

The IRS requires you to keep detailed records of your gambling winnings and losses, and to keep any related documents, including receipts, tickets, payment slips, statements, and Form W-2G. You must be able to prove both your winnings and losses if you wish to deduct your losses. The IRS suggests that you keep a gambling log or diary.

The IRS requires you to keep the following information about each gambling win and loss:

If you e-File your tax return, you do not have to send any W-2Gs or other documents to the IRS (but you must keep them for your records in case of audit).

The rules described on this page are for the majority of people with gambling income, those who are not professional gamblers. If gambling is your actual profession, then your gambling income is generally considered regular earned income and is taxed at your normal effective income tax rate. As a self-employed individual, you will need to report your income and expenses on Schedule C, which the eFileapp will automatically generate and add to your tax return based on the information you enter. You can deduct gambling losses as job expenses using Schedule C, not Schedule A.

U.S. Nonresidents can usually report income that is "effectively connected" with a U.S. business on Form 1040NR-EZ. Gambling winnings, however, are considered to be "not effectively connected" and so must generally be reported on Form 1040NR. Such income is generally taxed at a flat rate of 30%. Nonresident aliens generally cannot deduct gambling losses. However, there is a tax treaty between the United States and Canada that generally allows Canadian citizens to deduct their gambling losses, up to the amount of their gambling winnings.

If you have gambling winnings or losses, they must be reported on your tax return. When you prepare and eFile your return on eFile.com, during the tax interview you will be asked if you have gambling income or losses and if so, you will be asked for more information. We will prepare all the forms needed to report this on your return so you don't have to worry about which form you need. eFile.comwalks you through the tax preparation process, helps you fill out the right forms, and checks for errors.

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Gambling Winnings, Income Taxes for 2019, 2010 Tax Returns.

WASHINGTON D.C., DC The adrenaline keeps coursing through everyone's veins, building up to that transcendent moment in D.C. sports history: the advent of legalized betting on games. And it's happening at actual reputable businesses, like Capital One Arena and a DC Lottery mobile App.

While most serious, casual and degenerate gamblers still need to illegally go through their online and on-probation bookies for their favorite Super Bowl prop bet -- like how many plays Tony Romo will predict correctly before the snap -- there is a hope that by the time March Madness rolls around, residents of the District will be able to wager away.

WUSA(

RELATED: VERIFY: Will sports betting be ready by Super Bowl Sunday?

Now, I don't want to be that rain-on-your-parade guy, the rotten-luck Charlie Brown or Kenny from South Park type. But memo to those eagerly awaiting their first legal sports bet: You do know the owners of these establishments got into this business because they'd like to part people with their money, right?

I know this might be a revelation, but you can lose. And you cannot play for the teams you pick to win, giving you less control of the outcome than your average Texas hold' em or blackjack game. I know this because I lost several thousand many years ago. I know this because a guy I met who used to be head of the Virginia Problem Gamblers Association, lost everything. His wife. His job. Nearly his freedom.

See, legalizing gambling in the District is like ending prohibition. Some people will have two glasses of wine per night and go happily to bed. And others will have a scotch, another and another and by the end of the week end up in detox or a recovery room. The term "Responsible Gambling" is among the worst oxymoron known to man. Gambling is not responsible. It's a huge risk. Especially if you have kids, a mortgage and plans for summer vacation.

RELATED: Daniel Snyder and MD lawmakers discuss allowing sports betting at a future Redskins stadium

And as much as I want to celebrate this new revenue stream that's going to allegedly create more jobs and make it so convenient to win big, while actually attending an NBA or hockey game, I also know for some this will create the loss of wealth, health and sometimes families. One person's new entertainment venue can be another's nadir in life.

Here's hoping the purveyors of betting in town have enough resources to help those who have no control over the impulse to bet. Because if that doesn't happen, nobody is going to win.

That's my take. Agree or disagree, I'd love to hear yours. You can get me at mwise@wusa9.com or @MikeWiseGuy on Twitter. And if you got a question for #TheQandA, hit us up at TheQandA@wusa9.com.

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Wise: Anticipation over sports gambling in DC has one minus: parting with your money and possibly your sanity - WUSA9.com

A couple of clicks to bet on the football: a win. Little did I know that in such a short space of time those clicks would lead me to losing my home and my job. I started gambling during a period of intense loneliness in my life. I was in an abusive relationship and my self-esteem was at an all-time low.

My partner introduced me to online gambling in passing, sitting on the sofa one evening. It didnt feel like a big deal, just something to do on your phone while the TV played in the background. I won the very first time I made a bet. It gave me an instant buzz a feeling of gratification I think I had been missing in my life.

This first win would come to shape the way I viewed gambling. It hooked me in, and I gradually spent more and more time over the following months chasing that initial high. Many others are like me, seeking a buzz that they dont find in other places. For other women, its not a buzz but a numbness they seek from being in the gambling bubble. Gambling can sometimes be a reaction to depression or anxiety; in other cases it may be a cause. More often than not, its the people who are already struggling who are most at risk of developing an addiction.

Gambling was something I never sought out: Id never been in a betting shop, casino or arcade. Instead, through apps on my smartphone, gambling came to me. My experience isnt unique more and more women who would never think to enter the all-male spaces of high-street bookies are finding themselves using online gambling sites and apps. Gambling online allowed my addiction to escalate. If you can hide the screen, you can hide the problem.

I thought I could win millions and escape somewhere. But the more I chased this hope, the worse the problems I was trying to escape from became

It seemed as if by hitting a few buttons I could make money. This promised to become the answer to my debts another issue I was struggling with at the time. I thought I could win millions and escape somewhere. But the more I chased this hope, the worse the problems I was trying to escape from became. The longer you gamble, the more you lose; the more you lose, the more you gamble.

The debts began to rack up to the point that I lost not only my job but my home. That was when I reached rock bottom. The companies I was gambling with didnt question where I was finding the money. I was never offered a deposit limit that would restrict the amount of money I could spend, self-exclusion for a period of time or support when I began to realise I was struggling with an addiction.

I almost lost everything, including my life at my lowest point. As a woman, it somehow felt harder to ask for help: I worried Id be judged for not being able to cope. Women are usually the ones who hold everything together, and I felt embarrassed that I wasnt able to. Gambling addiction is still seen as an issue that only affects men. The reality is more and more women are gambling, and we need to raise awareness so they can access support. Specialist services available across the UK arent gender specific, theyre available to everyone and most importantly theyre provided for free.

At the time, not knowing where to go, I reached out to my GP and was referred to GamCare. Through them I accessed therapy and support that helped me make positive changes to my life. I was able to view my situation from a different perspective, and to understand the aspects of my life that made gambling so attractive. I can now recognise what might trigger me to want to gamble, so I can make a healthier choice for me and my family.

There is light at the end of the tunnel if we talk. Talk to one another, talk to your GP, talk to your therapist and talk to an adviser on the national gambling helpline. Rebuilding my life has been tough, but now I have a lovely home again, and Im the happiest Ive been in a long time. Ive finally been honest with my loved ones, and with their ongoing support Ive said goodbye to gambling for ever.

Free help and advice about problem gambling is available online at BeGambleAware.org or by calling the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at http://www.befrienders.org

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The rising tide of female gamblers need help. I know, I lost my home and job - The Guardian