A powerful poem written by a UMB staff member on the subject of gambling addiction and the help available in Maryland.
He awoke again this morning, with despair his only friend,
he looked around the Casino garage, packed with cars from end to end.
Another night of gambling, credit cards are all maxed out,
And when he walked into his house, his wife began to shout!
“Where have you been, no wait…I know, you’ve blown the monthly rent,”
And the money for the kids' school clothes, I see has come and went!”
“5 times a week you disappear and return without a dime”
Excuses and Lies about where you’ve been, more precious wasted time!
“You’re not the man that I once knew,” and so… off came the gloves,
“We never should have married,” you like gambling more than love!
The stinging insults back and forth, barbs of hate, doors slammed with force,
And like so many times before, she quietly cries, praying he’ll change course.
“I just can’t take this anymore” she cries in desperation,
“You love your Gambling more than us, a twisted fascination!”
Her patience gone, she grabs some things and knows what she must do,
The hardest thing she’s ever done, she shouts “I’m leaving you!”
The house now way too silent, from his gambling dereliction,
As if on cue, the landlord knocks, announcing his Eviction!
He thinks “next time I’ll hit it BIG, and THAT will change my life”
It sure changed things at home for him, no children, and no wife.
The weeks go by, more gambling tried, more money did he drop,
Using funds, he gained, from selling things, to Sam at the Pawn-shop!
The wedding gifts of silver, the statue on the shelf,
the big Samsung TV he thought would soon bring him great wealth.
But once again, the dream becomes, a reckless night of loss,
A message on his phone then reads, YOU’RE FIRED, signed, your boss!
He’s lost it all, his luck’s run cold, as if there were no warning,
Alone he sits, in the casino garage, on a snowy Christmas Morning.
Although he’s quite a brilliant guy, he has this strange addiction,
He thinks out loud, I’ll end it all, and just die from this affliction.
Just then he heard, a commercial play, in his beat-up 4-door Rambler,
“Bring your problem to us, there is help and there’s hope, at 1-800-GAMBLER!”
And now fast forward several years, his abstinence is Bliss,
Not one day does he ever think “my gambling I sure miss,”
His wife and children have returned, he works hard on gambling sobriety,
He now admits, as Problem Gamblers go, he’s of the garden variety.
In closing therapists and counselors,
PLEASE hear my one prediction,
Your screening for problem gambling,
grows recovery from addiction!
By Ken Wolfson, Certified Peer Support Specialist / 2023
The Maryland Center of Excellence on Problem Gambling
University of Maryland School of Medicine