Lee County Residents Briefed on the Harms of Gambling

Article by John Brice - East Alabama Examiner

Saugahatchee Country Club in Opelika was the location for a presentation on the dangers of gambling hosted by the Kiwanis Club of Opelika during their meeting on Thursday, June 22nd of 2023. Jack Galassini, a Kiwanis District Lieutenant Governor as well as a television host on WSFA, spoke to the attendees in his capacity as the founder of the Alabama Council on Compulsive Gambling. After a brief introduction, Galassini explained the mission of his organization and highlighted the threats posed by games of chance. Given the looming expansion of casinos being pushed by lobbyists in the Alabama state house, the topic of his lecture was all the timelier.

Taking to the podium, Galassini began by stating "We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. We are a gambling neutral organization. So, we don't tell you to gamble, we don't tell you don't gamble. If you are going to do it, do it responsibly." He continued "We are the state affiliate of the National Council on Problem Gambling. Our purpose and what we do is to council, to train and to educate. When a person has a problem with gambling, we provide help to those people and then we train those in the behavioral health fields to be able to help clients with gambling problems."

Explaining the resources provided by the ACCG, Galassini remarked "Regardless of their ability to pay, if a person comes to us and they say 'we need help, we don't have any money' we make sure the counselor is compensated. We educate groups in public service, speaking engagements like this, and other awareness campaigns about the dangers of gambling." Clarifying the current state of gambling's medical significance, he noted "The American Psychiatric Association a few years back designated a problem with gambling as an addiction. So it became addictive behavior at that point. Those of you who know people that are really concerned with problem gambling, they are addicted to it. It's a hidden addiction. With alcohol and drugs, it's very visible." 

Further expanding on his thought, Galassini stated "Gambling is invisible. You don't know in this room if somebody has a problem or not. In gambling, disorder knows no borders. It goes anywhere. It can go from the highest paid people in the country, to just the average run of the mill person." He went on to pose the question "What happens with a person that becomes a compulsive gambler? First of all, they do not know how to set limits as the amount of money they are going to spend. They gamble with money that they cannot afford to lose, and more than likely they are going to lie to cover up their activity."

Detailing the downward spiral wrought by gambling, Galassini stated "There are three phases, you start gambling and run out of money, you beg people to give you some money so that you can continue with the habit. Then, you start to borrow, against your credit card and you max it out. Some people have actually lost their homes, mortgaging them. When all else fails, you start to steal and that's where they put you in jail."

During an exclusive interview after his presentation concluded, the Examiner asked Galassini for his thoughts on the vulnerability of senior citizens to excessive gambling temptations who are living in nursing homes when taking field trips to play the slots at casinos. He responded candidly "I do a television show called 'The Time of Your Life', it addresses the people 50 years of age and older. When I go out to sell advertisers on my show I tell them that my show has the thing that most marketers want, seniors. They have two things, time and money. They are either retired, or they have worked so long they have a lot of vacation time, and they are empty nesters. They have the house paid off, they have got money. So, for a lot of these people, and women especially, they become divorced or widowed at a later age. It's an escape, to go there as a social thing. If it's that, you're fine, you're doing it responsibly. If all of a sudden you find yourself going, and you say, 'let me go back again'. Then it becomes, rather than once a week, three times a week or five times a week and then it becomes a problem."