Online Gambling Breaks Gender Barrier

From Black Jack tables to slot machines, gambling is all fun and games to some people but to others it turns into a serious problem of addiction. And compulsive gambling is crossing gender lines.

Sue is a former gambling addict who says, "I couldn't pay my rent. I didn't have electricity and my gas was shut off."

She lost the basic necessities of life because she became addicted to taking a chance.

"Every time I left the casino, I always said I would never go back," she tells us.

Gambling counselor T.J. Gorman says more women like Sue are becoming addicted to gambling, a problem long associated with men.

Gorman says, "Women tend to gamble more out of a need to escape a significant loss in their lives."

For Sue the loss was the death of her husband.

She says the casino, "was a happy place. I wouldn't have to worry about people asking questions about how I'm doing."

It didn't help that with one quarter she won more than $1,000 at a slot machine.

"Hit a jackpot and thought hey, if I can do it with quarters lets try dollars."

For years she gambled every dollar of the Social Security death benefits she received, robbing her children of their mother and their safety.

She says, "I would leave them home. I went and gambled. We didn't do a lot of things because gambling was my life."

Knowing the warning signs can help head off problems.

Jane Bell, of Ameristar Casino and Hotel says, "Gaming is an entertainment venue. If it appears that somebody is no longer being entertained but it's becoming more of a frenzy type of gambling, that could be a sign."

Sue eventually signed a form that serves as an irrevocable self-ban from all casinos because she says the reality is that, "You won't win. It won't happen."

She says she got help after a friend recommended her to the Heartland Family Service. She works with a therapist and counselor there.