March is known as Problem Gambling Awareness Month.

New Opportunities Problem Gambling Treatment Counselor Dorinda Wehde says according to the National Council on Problem Gambling about one-percent of adults in the US meet the criteria for problem gambling. 

She tells Raccoon Valley Radio typically those individuals that are problem gamblers go through a three phase process. The first phase is “winning” where someone gets excitement from winning and is enticed to want to win more. The second phase is “losing” where the individual that loses gambles more in an attempt to win back what they lost and they tend to hide their losses and borrow money to continue the habit. Wehde says the final phase is “desperation.”

“They know they’re in trouble but they still can’t quit, everything has gone bad, they’ve lost all their money, lost their jobs, and lost their families, they have literally hit rock bottom. At this phase, they may steal or commit illegal activities to finance their gambling.” 

Wehde says if someone gets to the desperation phase and they don’t have control of what may happen if they go into a casino, they can enter the Voluntary Self Exclusion Program through the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission. She points out once that is filed, they are banned from going into any casinos in Iowa.

“They can choose to have it be for either five years or they can choose to have it be for a lifetime. Now, if they choose a lifetime that’s irrevocable, they can not ever not be on that self exclusion. If they choose the five years then at that point they can decide if they want to go again for another five years. Or if they feel like they’re not going to have an issue at that time, then they don’t need to fill it out again.”

Wehde adds other ways to get individuals help is through 1-800-BETS-OFF where a phone call that is placed in one of the five counties that Wehde covers, including Greene and Guthrie, will get directed to her phone and has access to a few resources to help.