Her addiction to casino gambling had reached crisis proportions, threatening to destroy her and the family she loved.
A successful professional making a six-figure salary, she was losing $2,000 a week on slot machines. She borrowed money from friends, dipped into her retirement savings and lied to her family about where the money was going.
She went to local casinos three days a week, sometimes sitting at machines for 10 hours at a time without stopping to eat or drink.
Ellen F. said she decided in 2008 to take two major steps to stop gambling. She joined the Western New York chapter of Gamblers Anonymous. She also enrolled in the state’s Voluntary Self-Exclusion program. She had her picture taken and signed papers to bar herself from entering any casino licensed by the state.
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“Basically, I signed up to protect myself from myself,” the woman in her 70s, a retiree from a Buffalo suburb, told The Buffalo News. “I realized that I needed all the help I could get to stay away from the casino. Between the help I got from GA and the exclusion program, I was able to do it. It wasn’t easy.”
She said she hasn’t gambled since.
Rows of gaming machines in the Hamburg Gaming casino at Buffalo Raceway. New York’s Voluntary Self-Exclusion program can help take the temptation out of the decision to visit a casino.
Ellen F. is one of about 8,600 New York gamblers who have enrolled in the Voluntary Self-Exclusion program since 2017. The state Gaming Commission started the VSE program in 2014.
Participants agree not to set foot on casino property. Their photographs and personal information are kept in a database maintained by the Gaming Commission and shared with the casinos. If they do go into a casino and win money, they cannot legally collect the money. They can also be arrested.
“Voluntary self-exclusion programs can be a wonderful tool for people who are trying to recover from gambling addictions,” said James J. Maney, executive director of the state Council on Problem Gambling. “For someone who is fighting that battle, restricting them from even walking into a casino really helps. But you also need treatment, counseling and self-help groups.”
Those who join the statewide program are barred from all casinos and horse racing tracks licensed by the state, including those at Buffalo Raceway and Batavia Downs. They can have themselves banned from betting on state lotteries and the nine Internet sports gambling sites that are licensed to operate in New York.
There are almost 16 million adults in New York State, and almost one-third of them – more than five million – have gambled at least once in the past year, according to the council.
The council estimates that about 4.5% of the state’s gamblers are either problem gamblers or at-risk gamblers. Using those calculations, there are approximately 225,000 adults with gambling problems in the state.
A record 1,653 people enrolled in the VSE program last year, and enrollments this year are on pace to top that number.
Maney said the state needs to do all it can to publicize VSE and other support that is available for those addicted to gambling.
“I would say that most people don’t even know this program exists,” Maney told The News. “It’s a lot easier to find out where to gamble than it is to find out about the program. We’re working on that.”
It takes courage and self-control to sign up for such a program, and many gamblers are reluctant to take that step, Ellen F. said.
Two addicts tell their stories
Ellen F. and her friend, Carmen P., are members of the local Gamblers Anonymous chapter. The spoke about their addictions on the condition that their real names would not be published. Ellen F. and Carmen P. are pseudonyms.
Both women told The News that joining the VSE program has helped them to maintain what they called their sobriety from gambling.
“I reached a point where I was losing $600 to $700 a week from slot machines,” said Carmen P., a retired medical professional in her 70s. “I kept the secret from my family and my patients. My husband knew I gambled, but he had no idea how serious it was.
“It’s an insidious addiction, it takes over your life. Going to the casino started out as date night with my husband, but it took over my life. I had five solid years of gambling, almost every single day, before I realized I needed help.”
The woman, who lives in a rural section of Erie County, said she tried and failed three times to quit gambling before Gamblers Anonymous and VSE helped her quit – hopefully forever – eight years ago.
“I went to the security office at the Batavia casino, and I felt like a criminal,” she said. “They took my picture and a lot of personal information, but the program has been great for me.”
She still feels temptation to gamble, but her fears about what could happen stop her from going into a casino, Carmen P. said.
The state applications for the VSE program warn that people who violate the rules by going into casinos can be arrested for trespassing, a violation of state law.
“I can’t bear the thought of getting arrested, all the embarrassment and pain that would cause for me and my family,” she said. “I can hardly stand to look at a casino anymore. I have to put my hand up in front of my face.”
Ellen F. said she has known “several” people who committed suicide because of their gambling addictions.
“I realized I needed help when I lost the trust of my family,” she said. “You can’t be a compulsive gambler without being a compulsive liar … you lie to people all day long,” she said.
In recent months, people enrolling in VSE included residents of Buffalo, Blasdell, Orchard Park, Clarence, West Seneca, Batavia, Alden, Cheektowaga, Lockport, East Aurora and the Town of Tonawanda, state officials said.
People can join the program for one year, three years, five years or the rest of their lives.
The Seneca Nation and other Native American nations that run casinos in New York do not participate in the state VSE programs, but have their own VSE programs.
What happens to violators?
Ellen F. said she knows one person who was in VSE and was arrested for going into a casino and gambling in violation of VSE rules.
Another person she knows “went into a casino and won a jackpot,” Ellen F. said. “She wasn’t allowed to collect her money, but they didn’t arrest her. Security people marched her out of the casino.”
A spokesman said the state Gaming Commission does not keep any statistics on how many people are arrested for trespass after violating the provisions of the VSE program. He declined to say how often people try to violate the program.
The state and the casinos should do more to publicize the availability of VSE, Ellen F said.
“The program is out there, and it’s helpful, but a lot of people don’t even know it exists,” she said. “The casinos certainly don’t publicize it as much as they run ads encouraging people to gamble.”
She said anyone in the Buffalo area can get help joining the Voluntary Exclusion program by calling Gamblers Anonymous at (716) 708-1197.
“We’ll tell you all about the program and help you sign up,” Ellen F. said.
Similar support is offered statewide through the state Council on Problem Gambling at (518) 867-4084, and the HOPEline run by the state Office of Addiction Services and Supports at (877) 846-7369.
The state Gaming Commission can be contacted at info@gaming.ny.gov.
