Arnie Wexler used his position with
the council as a bully pulpit at a time
when gambling was furiously expand-
ing throughout the country. John
Samerjan, spokesman for the New
Jersey Sports and Exposition Author-
ity, which operates the Meadowlands
and Monmouth Park racetracks, said
Wexler was a solitary but strong voice
reminding legislators of gambling's
human cost.

"Arnie would frequently drive ad-
ministrations and legislators and regu-
lators to distraction with his persist-
ence, but I mean that in a nice way,
because the Tesuit of it was con-
sciousness-raising that yes indeed,
(compulsive gambling) is a problem
that ne ded to be recognized," Same-
rjan said.

Wexler's single-minded focus on
the council - and his willingness to
pressure, compromise and deal to get
what he wants-were evident in the
long-running debate over 24-hour ca-

sino gambling, which was finally approved by the state in 1991.

Wexler had long criticized the con-
cept of around-the-clock casino opera-
tion as an invitation for compulsive
gambling. But rather than oppose a
measure he felt was inevitable,
Wexler concentrated on winning con-
cessions from legislators and the gam-
ing industry.

He won two large ones, which he
calls his "biggest coups."

From that point forward, the first
$500,000 in fine money collected each
year by the state Casino Control Com-
mission would go to the Council on
Compulsive Gambling.

And all casinos would have to in-
clude the phrase "Gambling Problem?
Call 1-800 GAMBLER" on promo-
tional material. Last year, the hot line
received 39,000 calls, about 17,000 of
them from New Jersey residents.

ciates, a consulting company they op-
erated out of their home. Last Octo-
ber, full of entrepreneurial ambition
tempered with anxiety, they quit their
jobs to devote all of their attention to
consulting work.

It was not an easy decision. After
spending so much of his life in debt,
Arnie had rebuilt his finances and was
not eager to let go of his-and-her
steady salaries.

But Sheila in particular saw a
unique opportunity to pursue what
they loved while splitting time be-
tween their home in Bradley Beach
and Florida, where they plan to spend
each winter.

They now shuttle around the coun-
try, speaking to therapists, compul-
sive gambling institutes and, with
some wariness, even those in the
gaming industry who are beginning to
view pathological gambling as a dan-
ger to their own business.

Ivy Wexler said she and her siblings
long ago adjusted to their parents' al-
ways-ringing telephone, their busy
travel schedule and their willingness
to talk publicly about the family's pri-
vate struggles. "After all these
years," she said, "it's just the way it is
around here."

Yet one cannot help noticing w
the frenetic activity of the Wexlerstre-
sembles, in some ways, the frantic
way they lived years ago.

It begs the question: Have they
simply traded...

"One compulsion for another? Yeah, yeah," Arnie Wexler scoffs, a sheepish smile on his face.

Couple use compulsive gambling

experience to help others

Students the losers in gambling boom

By Arnie Wexler

With the explosion of legalized gambling in the last few years, we are sending a message to our youth that pulling a slot machine or buying a lottery ticket can make their dreams come true. More advertising dollars are spent on the benefits of "winning big" than on the benefits of getting an education. They also are led to believe that gambling is acceptable and therefore they see nothing wrong with illegally betting on sporting events on campuses throughout this country. The statistics coming from the "1-800GAMBLER HOTLINE" indicate that 12 percent of the calls for help last year came from youth under the age of 21. Most youth who become compulsive gamblers are bright, energetic young people with a great deal of potential. Once the gambling becomes the primary focus with them, it will ultimately destroy their motivation and, in time, it will impact on all the important areas of their lives.

In my role as a counselor, I am at this time working with a young man who was an allAmerican and played in the National Football League. His gambling started before college and eventually became an addiction. It has cost him his career, his family and, most recently, his freedom as he is now incarcerated.

These are some of the personal stories I have heard from college students:

Paying someone else to take exams or write papers so as not to interfere with time needed to gamble.

Betting on games they were playing in. Gambling under age in legal gambling establishments.

Robbing a convenience store and a bank for money with which to gamble.

Using fake credit cards, bouncing checks and creating phony checking accounts to get money for gambling.

Selling drugs and their bodies to pay gambling debts.

Stealing objects and money from other

students.

Selling or pawning property that belonged to the college they were attending. Athletes shaving points (in high school and college).

Running bookmaking rings, football pools or card games in college.

cate an awareness of how the problem is increasing:

"The problem of gambling on campus has increased in recent years. It's probably more pervasive than we thought." (Robert E. Frederick, chair, NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee)

"One of the problems with gambling is no one thinks it's their problem." (David E. Cawood, NCAA assistant executive director for marketing and broadcast services)

"Colleges need to attack the problem of gambling on campus with education." (Paul Anger, pres

ident of the Associated Press Sports Editors)

I have spoken on many college campuses and know, first hand, that there is a major gambling problem on campus. The problem must be addressed in a serious way. It will not go away. On the contrary, it gets worse.

I believe we need to encourage Gamblers Anonymous meetings to start on campus. Education and information should be offered to all students. The subject should be included in any discussions focused on addiction. Literature and information about help that is available

addressed

should be offered. Counseling services should include help for compulsive gamblers.

I recently resigned my position as executive director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey in order to spend more time lecturing on the subject of compulsive gambling, especially on college campuses. Together, we can offer help to young people before they destroy their lives.

By ARNIE WEXIJER

T WAS A RAINY Fri-
day afternoon in 1983.

The late Dr. Robert L. Custer, who was the "father" of treatment for compulsive gambling, asked me to drive him to Long Island to visit one of his patients who had entered an in-patient treatment center for compulsive gambling.

As we drove along the bumpy LIE, I had no idea whom we were going to visit. It didn't matter. I would have done anything for Dr. Custer. We had become persona! friends. As a compulsive gambler in recovery for 15 years, I had learned the only way I could keep my recovery was to reach out to another suffering compulsive gambler. Even though it was a long time ago, I could still remember the pain gambling caused me, my family and friends.

Custer's patient and I talked for about an hour at the treatment center. He was a young man. about 21 years old and very handsome. He had the body of an athlete, seemed very intelligent and appeared to have a lot of potential. But he was a compulsive gambler. He already had many losses and his career was in jeopardy. He was very likable and we hit it off immediately.

About three months later, at Dr. Custer's home in Bethesda, Md., I met the patient again. In the following year, we met and spoke on the phone frequently. Even though he relapsed a few times over the next few years, we still kept in touch. During that time, he still had the ability to perform in his career, but his employers were afraid the gambling addiction might interfere. Unlike alcoholics and drug addicts, who get second chances, it is more difficult for compulsive gamblers to get second chances. THE AVERAGE LIFE

The young man got married and got a job in another field. He had a radio show, and like most competitive gamblers, he succeeded at his new endeavor. Recovery, however, continued to elude him. His pain was getting greater. He wanted to stop, but couldn't. The need to gamble was stronger than his power to stop by himself. No compulsive gam

bler can stop on his or her own. He needed the help of other recovering people, but he was still struggling with this concept. The addiction had him by the throat and was destroying him.

The death of Dr. Custer (in the mid-80s) was a terrible loss to him and me. A few years later, the young man's wife gave birth to their first daughter. Over the next few years, we stayed in contact by phone. Often, he would talk about his wife and his daughter and how much he loved them.

Last year, before the Super Bowl, I was a guest on his radio show. The discussion was about compulsive gambling. Even though he hadn't stopped gambling, he was still eager to warn his audience about the devastation of compulsive gambling. Shortly thereafter, he took a "geographical cure" and moved to Las Vegas, America's gambling mecca. For most gamblers, this town is heaven. But for compulsive gamblers, it's hell. Again he was a host of a successful radio show.

We had not seen each other for about five years before last week. I was on one side of a glass partition, he was on the other at the North Las Vegas Correctional Center. As we talked over the prison phone, my life prior to recovery flashed before my eyes. Thank God I had stopped when I did, or I could have been on the other side of the partition. At this time, I am fortunate enough to have had recovery for 26 years. My friend told me he had 89 days without a bet. He said now he believes he can stop and he wants to. That's how recovery can begin. You admit you are a compulsive gambler and you have the desire to stop.

The next day, I saw him in court for sentencing on a bank fraud charge. I had the privilege to be asked by him and his attorney to explain the issue of compulsive gambling to the court. Not in my wildest dreams could I have believed that, in my recovery, I or anybody else would ever be asked in a Federal court about compulsive gambling.

With a room full of reporters, family member, friends and recovering compulsive gamblers, the judge sentenced him to 24 months in jail. When I heard the sentence, I got pain in my stomach, my hands started to sweat and I could feel his pain. When the defendant stood in front of the judge, his only request was to serve his sentence in a federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind., so he could be close to his family. MUCH WORK LEFT

Although we have come a long way in the area of compulsive gambling awareness, there is still virtually no help in the federal correctional system. It seems to me that it would be very difficult for a compulsive gambler to find recovery or stay in recovery in this type of setting. I believe the federal correctional system should provide some of the following services: counseling, Gambling Anonymous meetings within the facility, and education and reading materials on compulsive gambling and its recovery. I strongly believe that incarceration time should be reduced in lieu of alternatives such as halfway houses or in-patient treatment facilities. In addition, I think sentencing should require the guilty to make full restitution (within a realistic budget), serve community service and continue attendance at Gamblers Anonymous and on-going counseling services.

It is ironic that the young man was sentenced two days before the Super Bowl because if it were not for the fact he is a compulsive gambler, Art Schlichter might have been the starting quarterback in the game.

Arnie Wexler of Arnie & Sheila Wexler Associates in Bradley Beach, N.J., does workshops and seminars on compulsive gambling nationwide.