The Costs of the Disease Are...

Family disruption, neglected or abused children, divorce, impoverishment, mental breakdown.

Billions of dollars worth of productivity lost by business and industry through absenteeism, wasted time, poor work performance, theft of materials and accident.

Criminal acts committed to raise money in order to continue gambling after heavy losses and mounting debts. The longer the disease continues untreated, the greater the probability of arrest and imprisonment.

The unabated misery of being in the grips of an uncontrollable disease, without even knowing it, thus permitting the disease to wreck family, career and even life which, in many cases, ends in suicide.

The Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey www.800gambler.org

Ironically, it's been found that stress-related illnesses associated with people with gambling problems, such as headaches, high blood pressure, anxiety and depression, also have been found in family members.

Buffalo News
www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20030727/1046133.asp