An Interview on Problem Gambling Prevention

[Frank Kneeland]

Everyone who gambles more than reasonable amounts of time has a problem with it. Saying that someone who goes after promotions and plays with some kind of a theoretical edge does NOT have a gambling problem, is avoiding reality and is only giving excuses for their actions. Super denial.What is a reasonable amount of time for someone that pays his rent, expenses, and feeds his family gambling? I would say however long it takes him to make his bills.The only denial I see here is that you refuse to accept that there is a small portion of the population (very small) that does nothing else for a living other than play video poker...and no, I'm not talking about myself or Bob Dancer. We are exceptions and have peripheral income. I'm talking about people like my partners or roommate that have done nothing else for a living for more that a decade and have no other means of support. Gambling is all they do. Do you think denial is paying their bills?Do any of them having gambling problems, yes. Do all of them have gambling problems, no. I gave you two examples earlier. Some do, some don't. You cannot generalize.Please try to understand that the pros you hear about like Bob and myself are not representational of normality...the large majority of AP's do not ever post on forums and you have never heard of them, and know that the invitation to meet some of my partners is still open if you visit Vegas.Frank I understand what you say about how you play the game. Your 35-year Problem example looks to me like hes in a no-way-out situation, and CLEARLY he will rue the day he took up gambling when he ages and finds no SS, no government or private pensions, and no company contributions to his savings accounts if he even has them. THAT is what I call a serious pathological gambler with a very big problem. I would also  like to see the public proof that he is ahead by any amount, which I'm assuming you have seen since you identify him as such. Or are you just theorizing?No I'm not theorizing, I've known him very well for many years, we live together. He's one of the folks on the special interview I told you to listen to. You want proof! He's had no job other than gambling for 15 years and started out busted out with no savings. Two of his kids are in college, which he pays for, oh and I do his book keeping. If that's not good enough for you, then there's no point is saying anything else. If you adopt the mentality that anyone that says anything you disagree with is lying, then you'll never believe otherwise.~FK

[backsider]

You LIVE with this guy and you do his book keeping? ABC-OMG! You believe everything he tells you, so an outsider is off base believing in not everything you tell them? He gambles a lot and he is NOT an addict? Id be consulting a lot more professionalism than your Dr. Mckown if I were into all that! Im sorry Frank, but now I understand why youre so into phishing for other problem gamblers here. I on the other hand am now absolutely sure I do not have a gambling issue, in fact, I have NO issues any longer. I thought my life in a chair was a little odd until I read more about you. But youve given me a new strength and its like a breath of fresh air with something positive to think about for a change. I thank you for that.

[royal flush]

we just disagree i respect you on alot of things but two one the former the second is that theripists like casinos are in business to make money to exploit the edge as is you and i

[Frank Kneeland]

You LIVE with this guy and you do his book keeping? ABC-OMG! You believe everything he tells you, so an outsider is off base believing in not everything you tell them? He gambles a lot and he is NOT an addict? Id be consulting a lot more professionalism than your Dr. Mckown if I were into all that!You need to slow down your reading speed or something...and if we are going to keep discussing things from the "Special Interview with Dr. McCown you need to listen to it, so we are on the same page.  I never said he was NOT an addict. I said exactly the opposite. Exactly the opposite!!!He is an addict and said so on the interview and to me, and to anyone else that's in ear shot. He has no illusions. He's been an addicted gambler for over 30 years. In the last 15 he has been an addicted winning gambler (or addicted AP if you prefer the term). What forced him to change from conventional problem gambling, to advantage problem gambling was the necessity of taking care of his two children.Rather than try to convince you he isn't lying, let's consider what would be required for him "to be lying".1. He'd have to have had an enormous hidden savings 15 years ago, keeping in mind that he'd been blowing all his paychecks until his kids came to live with him.2. So he would have had to have saved this incredibly large amount of hidden money during the years he had a normal job, even though he freely admits to having had a gambling problem during these same years.3. This means he would have been winning or making money during these years and would have lied about being broke. In order for him to be lying about winning now he'd have had to have been lying about losing before.4. His sons, who I also lived with, would have either have to have been "in on it", or else he was concealing a "real job" during the last 15 years. According to him and them, he has never done anything but gamble professionally during the last 15 years they lived with him.5. And lastly, every time he "claims a win" that didn't occur, he'd have to come up about 80% of his claim to hand to his partners. Lying about wins would actually cost him more money out of his phantom savings or phantom job or wherever you think this money for losses, rent and living expenses has been coming from for over a decade. And he'd then have to pay taxes on his imaginary winnings, and yes, I do his taxes for him.Do you hear what you are saying? Do you think a lier no matter how good or convincing could pay his rent and take care of two children with lies for 15 years. Lies don't print money and pay bills.He has no other peripheral income like Bob D. or myself you can overvalue to explain away how he has supported himself and family all these years. ALL he does is play machines.Addicted Gambler = Yes    Losing Gambler = No Im sorry Frank, but now I understand why youre so into phishing for other problem gamblers here. I on the other hand am now absolutely sure I do not have a gambling issue, in fact, I have NO issues any longer. I thought my life in a chair was a little odd until I read more about you. But youve given me a new strength and its like a breath of fresh air with something positive to think about for a change. I thank you for that.
1. I don't have any idea why you think I'm "fishing for problem gamblers". I even said it would be impossible for me to know if anyone had a problem. I have passed along what the current top researcher in the field had to say, so anyone that was interested could use the information. At worst this would be a slight waste of someones time if they read it and couldn't use it. If it finds someone that can use the info, even better, but I do not expect to hear from them, nor would I be able to help them anymore than I already have.2. Apparently, somehow, something I said has now convinced you that you don't have a problem and have NO issues any longer? That should be impossible! I am not you...nothing I do or say can change your reality. No matter how odd my life is it has no bearing on you or your life.I don't know if you have "issues", but I do know two things:1. I can't know if you have issues...and I'm not saying you do...but...2. My having other or different issues, or an odd life wouldn't get rid of, or excuse any of your issues if you did have them. That would be like letting off a murderer, because Hitler killed more people. One person's issues do not excuse another's.What it seems like to me is that you are trying to somehow undermine my credibility in your mind because I have either said or shared things from Dr. McCown that you didn't want to hear. I can live with the credibility issues, but not if it means you are ignoring things that could help you.Remember what Dr. McCown said, "





When confronted, someone’s
initial reaction will likely be to think that you're crazy and then they will
think that you are picking on them. None of us like to change. Nobody likes to
hear very serious bad news. So this response is natural."~FK

[Frank Kneeland]

@backsider and anyone else.I wanted to put this in a separate post, so it didn't get lost in the shuffle.1. If a person doesn't have a gambling problem, or potential gambling problem, or know someone that does, or might someday encounter one, then nothing in this thread applies to them.2. If someone reading this did have a gambling problem, then a public forum is not the appropriate place to discuss it, nor am I the correct person with whom to be discussing it!I'm just the guy that interviewed the doctor and read his books.

[Frank Kneeland]

we just disagree i respect you on alot of things but two one the former the second is that theripists like casinos are in business to make money to exploit the edge as is you and iOh I never said that their aren't therapists who are in it for a profit motive. There are, I've met a few. I do however think that therapists driven by greed do not target broke problem gamblers as much. They go into other more lucrative branches of psychology like "curing" TV evangelists from drug fulled bouts of same gender sexuality, or celebrity relationship counseling.There are no absolutes, so I can't really argue with you. What you say is no doubt right about some people, and what I'm saying is probably right about others.It's people we're talking about, when was the last time you met two the same?

[Frank Kneeland]

Someone asked a good question the other day, I think it was backsider, about how the medical community determines the prevalence of problem gambling in the general population. I passed on the question to Dr. McCown, but as I said in another post, he's busy with a death in his family. Here's the best article I could find on the topic, keep in mind it's fairly old.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article ... 9-0065.pdf

[backsider]

Dominus vobiscuum.

[Frank Kneeland]

Dominus vobiscuum. Why thank you...and may he watch over you as well in all the lonely places we must walk.

[royal flush]

lets face it its all about the money