‘Gambling addiction on steroids’: Gambling crisis fears at heart of US military | games of chance

Dave Yeager didn’t join the US Army to become a pathological gambler. But after re-enlisting as a food inspection specialist after 9/11, Yeager arrived at his base hotel in Seoul, Korea, feeling overwhelmed and anxious. “I’m walking around and find a casino-style room,” says the 57-year-old former sergeant. As soon as I sat down, the first thing I noticed was that my shoulders started to relax. Then I won and it was like a dopamine hit. In that moment, all the fear, anger and stress I was feeling just left.â€

Suddenly and without warning, a night of gambling here and there turned into a seven-day-a-week addiction — one that forced him to call home for more money, pawning personal items and stealing from his unit. When a demotion failed to curb Yeager’s reckless behavior, his bosses threw up their hands.

“My commanding officer, a colonel I respect very much, basically said in a nutshell, ‘We have no idea what to do with you because you’re such a stellar performer,'” he recalls of the coming-to-Jesus meeting. his transfer to a service station in the US.“No one has ever used the word games of chance. It was “this problem you have”.

While the boom unleashed by the legalization of sports betting in 2018 raised fears of an emerging addiction crisis, this institutional problem — at the heart of the U.S. military — can be traced back decades, to rooms like the one Yeager entered. in Korea.

In 1951, Congress banned assault rifles from US military bases. In the 70s, the Army and Air Force pulled them from foreign bases only to slowly bring them back in the 80s — with the idea that it would keep troops out of trouble off base.

Currently, the US military operates more than 3,000 slot machines on bases in 12 countries – up from 8,000 slots in 94 countries in 1999, according to the Pentagon. This is in addition to other military-sponsored games of chance on bases, with service members up to 18 years old able to participate.

The remaining slots alone raise more than $100 million a year, money that each branch distributes to groups that support “morale, welfare and entertainment” initiatives at all bases, such as movie theaters and golf courses. None of that money, Yeager notes, goes to education, screening or prevention. “When you fall into a gambling problem,” he says, “it’s not treated as a mental health issue and an addiction. It’s treated as a money problem and a disciplinary issue

All the while, service members spiral deeper into the hole. A 2003 chart analysis of patients at a Veterans Affairs (VA) medical center found that, of the patient population who had attempted suicide, 64% blamed gambling-related harm for pushing them to the brink. Three years later, the suicide death of a decorated Army helicopter pilot forced the general public to take some stock of the Army’s gambling problem.

A 2016 study of Iraq war veterans concluded that 4.2% had become at-risk gamblers after deployment. According to the National Council on Problem Gambling, about 56,000 active duty service members may meet the criteria for gambling disorder — which generally affects about 1% of Americans — about the same percentage of the adult population currently in active duty service. Both demographics skew heavily male.

In a 2021 Rutgers University study of gambling in the military, researcher Mark van der Maas concluded that active and retired military service members were more than twice as likely to become problem gamblers as the general population. general – and even this may underestimate the actual figures by quite a margin. “People tend not to think of the different things they’re doing as capital gambling because it’s such a morally charged term,” says van der Maas. “A sports bettor, for example, might not think they’re gambling because they put so much time and research into it.”

Van der Maas’ research suggests a link between military service and poor mental outcomes for women, a less studied gambling group than men. “In general, there are fewer women with gambling disorders compared to men,” he says. “But when we talk about the reasons why people gamble, women are more likely to say they gamble to help cope with a negative emotional state.

“In both the US and Canada, women in the military or in the police force are exposed to sexual harassment and assault at work. Understanding how being in that emotionally stressful environment potentially leads to gambling disorders for women is an area that needs more attention.

Although gambling has been recognized in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Medical Disorders since 1980, the military is no better at dealing with the problem than other US institutions that do not view gambling on the same level as drug or alcohol addiction. (Some insurance carriers are just beginning to cover problem gambling treatments.)

It’s only since 2019 that the Department of Defense has mandated annual gambling disorder screenings as part of the overall health assessment of service members, in addition to conducting random surveys of active-duty soldiers. “Early detection and treatment of gambling disorder and other health-related behavioral issues is critical to maintaining the overall well-being and operational effectiveness of our forces,” a defense department spokesman said. Prior to this statement, neither the defense department nor the VA had commented publicly on efforts to curb problem gambling within their ranks.

However, the military’s periodic checks for gambling are not as rigorous as those used for substance abuse or physical fitness. “It would only take three quick questions to at least flag if someone needed more follow-up,” says van der Maas.

This relaxed attitude makes military members particularly vulnerable to gambling addiction. “When you think about military people, they’re very connected,” says Heather Chapman, a psychologist who directs the gambling program at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA, one of the few residential facilities in the country that focuses on the disorder. . “It almost becomes like a family, and what you see is that the behavior is integrated into the family structure, something to do when they have downtime — whether it’s video games or a Texas Hold’em tournament. There aren’t the immediate problematic issues that they might have drugs and alcohol There is no clear screen for gambling other than financial issues, which can affect a person’s clearance if they have significant debt or file for bankruptcy.

Gambling can seem like an especially attractive escape in a high-stress environment that forces workers to accept risk, close individual cases, and finish the jobs they start. “You’re taught from day one, leave your problems at the door; you have a mission to do,” Yeager says. “The problem is, even when you’re addicted, the mentality is, ‘I HAVE fix this myself. The HAVE keep this to myself. I can’t leave until I am win.’

“One of the principles of gambling addiction is chasing losses. Add to that the warrior mentality and you basically have a gambling addiction on steroids.

Yeager’s addiction resulted in the breakup of his young family, the end of his military career, and a high five-figure debt. (He is further embarrassed to say that he borrowed from subordinates.)

After a decade long that included a two-week stay in a civilian psychiatric hospital, Yeager recalls the dazed counselor at his local VA giving him a package for the VA gambling program in Cleveland. It wasn’t until he made that pilgrimage and communed with veterans in the same foxhole that Yeager turned his life around. Now remarried, reconciled with his family, and debt-free, he raises awareness of the military’s gambling problem, touring the country and promoting a book about his recovery all the while.

He hopes to be a light to service members. In some ways, as gambling becomes more ubiquitous and accessible, they are even more vulnerable to addiction. “Just having gambling in your pocket now changes everything,” says Chapman. “We won’t really know what the real impact will be for another five or six years down the road when things really start to boil.”

Some federal lawmakers have shown a willingness to cooperate in the interest of disaster prevention. In 2017, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Steve Daines introduced a bipartisan bill that would have forced the Department of Defense to track gambling disorders in its health assessments and develop policies and programs around treatment and prevention.

Earlier this year, Congresswoman Andrea Salinas teamed up with Senator Richard Blumenthal on a bill that would, among other things, pour half of federal taxes for gambling operators into national treatment and research programs. But both measures have struggled for traction within a divided Congress.

Inaction only deepens the sense of fear within areas of the military on the front lines of the problem of gambling addiction — not least Yeager, who shudders to think of the potential risks to national security if the military’s gambling problem continues unchecked. .

“I’m telling you now: it’s only a matter of time before you start seeing stories about the major who lost his job, or the sergeant who committed treason because of their gambling addiction,” he. say. “There’s so much more we need to do. And that’s why I don’t shut up

• In the US, call the National Council on Problem Gambling at 800-GAMBLER or text 800GAM. In the UK, support for problem gambling can be found through the NHS National Problem Gambling Clinic on 020 7381 7722, or GamCare on 0808 8020 133. In Australia, Online Gambling Help is available on 1800 858 858 and National Helpline Deb10 007 007.

• This article was amended on 25 May 2024 because an earlier version misquoted Yeager as saying that he did not borrow from subordinates.