My name is Jerry Prosapio, and I am co-founder of Gambling Exposed. Gambling Exposed is an educational entity designated to reveal the truths of the impact gambling has on our society. I am also a former compulsive gambler who knows first-hand the destruction this addiction can produce. National statistics show that 1 out of 10 first time visitors to a casino get addicted. (2 out of 10 if they play video slot machines on their initial entry) I know that I was the 1 out of 10 who became addicted on my first visit to a casino. My addiction to casino gambling lasted 10 years and the results were the following:
- Excessive loans, credit card advantages, and debt (17 credit cards)
- Illegal loans with the Mafia, which resulted in a terrifying unexpected home visit to my wife and then baby son.
- Loss of 2 businesses with double bankruptcies (both business and personal) totaling well into 6 figures
- Jeopardizing again the life of my infant son when leaving him unattended in vehicle to meet bookie inside bar to pay off gambling debt.
- Tremendous undue stress on my wife and marriage. My wife, although able to function by going to work at the height of my addiction, was, I’m convinced, close to a nervous breakdown.
- Thoughts of ending it all. On my final plane trip home from a casino (flying then under a false name), I thought it would be best if the pilot would just crash the plane.
It is by the grace of God that I have been free of gambling for the past 21 years. For the first 16 of those 21 years, (1983-1999) I regularly attended Gamblers Anonymous. In 1983, my first year in the meetings with no casino gambling in Illinois, there were 19 total meetings with about a dozen women. Now in 2004, there are a startling 57 meetings with 40% women in attendance and 50% of all first time members being women!! This gambling addiction, unlike alcohol, drugs, or cigarettes, is able to prey on all age groups, from teenagers up to seniors in their 70s and 80s.
Earlier this year, I attended a meeting at the Illinois Gaming Board at their offices in Chicago. While there, I heard a testimony from Tom Swoik, Executive Director for the Illinois Casino Gambling Association, who shared that there is no conclusive evidence to link expansion of casino gambling to any increase in addicted gamblers. Two weeks ago at a town hall meeting in Landsing, I heard William Boulware, a lawyer for the Ho-Chunk nation state, that less than 1% (.08) of our population in American is compulsive gamblers.
Both of these testimonies are blatant misrepresentations of what casino gambling is already doing to our residents in Illinois: 57 G.A. meetings vs 19, (a staggering 200% increase) and a national average of at least 2-3% of our population that are known as compulsive gamblers do not support those two false public testimonies by Mr. Swoik and Mr Boulware.
I plead with you, for the sake of our children, grandchildren, and the residents of our state, to please halt any future expansion of gambling. Enough is enough is enough. I thank you for giving your time to listen to me.