This fix can ruin your life
Gamblers Anonymous comes to the aid of individuals addicted to betting. They land in a spot, as their careers and family lives are hit
Taru Bahl

For Kartik, harmless gambling started with stakes of Rs1000 which quickly graduated to those ten times higher and before he knew, in one cricket season he lost as much as Rs4 lakh. A fresh graduate, into his first job, he scraped through and paid bookies and money lenders by borrowing from friends. By the time the next set of tournaments began, he was deep into the betting cycle — desperately chasing losses. Within a year, he was a sports junkie, betting on any game beamed on the telly. Three years down the line, he lost Rs 30 lakh, along with the confidence of family and friends. A nervous wreck, he vacillated from feelings of denial, desperation, anger, acceptance and is now finally into rehab. Coming from a wealthy family, it was easy for him to get a chance to fix his life. Not all are as lucky. Twentyone-year-old Anirudh found it exciting as he watched his parents play flash on Diwali eve. When friends asked him to join them for poker, he did it for a lark. In one evening he won Rs10,000. Then began a series of poker nights. When losses mounted, at the behest of friends, he tried his hand at cricket gambling and before he knew it, was deep into the world of bookies, money lenders and people who stood as guarantors. He lost close to Rs 20 lakh, mortgaging his laptop, cameras, iphone, play station and even selling his mother's gold bangles. His grades dropped, friends’ circle shrunk and his only companions were his mobile phone, a few sim cards, television in his room and a bunch of people he spoke to desperately late into the night to juggle borrowings that allowed him to be "active" to sustain the betting habit. When T-20 and World Cup series, the most sought after cricket matches, were not on, he was glued to the telly to watch and bet on any match. Now he is a regular with the weekly Gambling Anonymous meetings which have helped him stay clean for 100 days.

Surge in betting

Gambling in India is restricted. Despite this, an estimated 40 per cent internet users visit gambling sites primarily for lottery, cricket and horse betting. The Public Gambling Act of 1867 prohibits running or being in charge of a public gaming house. The penalty for breaking the law is a fine of Rs 200 or imprisonment of up to three months. But this has not kept budding and seasoned gamblers at bay. "In fact, numbers have spiralled and young upwardly mobile boys and even girls and housewives are taking to betting via the internet. The ease with which it can be done has put many gamblers in a spot, affecting their careers, family lives and most importantly, their state of mind," says a Mumbai-based stock market agent- turned-bookie who started by placing bets himself and seeing how lucrative it is, took to it full time. Daily, he witnesses young people lying, stealing and indulging in criminal activity to support the habit but he is not here to play moral guardian and is only interested in getting what is owed to him. The surge in online gambling can be seen in a report by Media and Entertainment Consulting Network (MECN) that estimates the entire Indian gambling industry to be worth $60 billion, back in 2009. With greater internet penetration, this has only grown manifold.

"Gambling has been around, from the days of the Mahabharata with Yudhishthir putting his wife, Drapuadi at stake to countless men losing family fortunes over lottery, cards and races. Today it is more prevalent because it is easily accessible. All it takes is a call or click of a mouse to place a bet," says Kaveri, a 'caregiver'. First it was her husband who was an alcoholic and now it is her son who in the last 18 years has lost all the family property.

She stresses the need for a support group for caregivers who can share and learn ways of coping with a complex condition. Not only does the addict need help but also the caregiver who battles intense feelings of inadequacy as well as anger, frustration and confusion. The addict remains oblivious to the paranoia he creates with his lying and manipulative, deceitful behaviour. She goes regularly for Codependents Anonymous (CODA) meetings in Delhi and feels they saved her from going 'mad'. "It helped me deal with my addict son in a more clinical and constructive manner. I finally understood that I need to be okay first before I can deal with him."

Self esteem issues

According to an alumni of DAIRRC run by Yusuf Merchant in Mumbai, "Most addicts are low on self esteem. A common thread runs through each of them, whether they are addicted to sports betting, cards and horses or sex, shopping or mobile texting. The programme I did was for more than a year, where recovery and healing were so extensive that when I stepped into the real world, I could be surrounded by temptation and yet hold my ground and say "no" to drugs. I understood that for me, unlike my friends, dabbling in it just once would make me plummet to depths of the very hopelessness I had just emerged from." He emphasises that the addict needs to be pulled out of his current environment and put in a place where there are people who understand and work with him to overcome his compulsive disorder, which if left unaddressed consumes him and all those around him. He says that post the programme, his relationships with his siblings, parents and girlfriend improved. More than others, he was surprised to see that the treatment took out the liar and manipulator in him, leaving behind a regular person with aspirations to do something constructive with his life. "All through the addiction I was seen as a certain kind of person which I now realised was not me, but my addictive behaviour. For the first time in many years, I acquainted myself with who I was and what I wanted to be," he adds.

While there is no dedicated rehab for gambling in India, there are places where people with addictive behaviours are counselled. Dr Ashwini Kumar who runs Santulan in Delhi, says, "Gambling is like any other addiction which is afflicted with all the d's - dealth of a loved one, debt and divorce. In the acute addictive phase, it is manifested through events like losing a job, having a run-in with crime, theft, extortion and even suicide." He explains that the period of recovery first entails admitting helplessness or powerlessness before seeking help and protection from an external source. He says there are no instant or permanent cures. Rather, "battling addiction is a lifelong struggle and condition that has to be managed. The recovering addict has to be constantly aware of his vulnerability to succumb to temptation and put in place safeguards that include changing company, not watching television, saying no to card parties etc and for caregivers too to be watchful at all times." In other words, it is a bio-psychosocial disease, just like blood pressure or hypertension. The person's lifestyle and even career needs to therefore fit into the disease not the other way round.

According to the Delhi Gambling Anonymous group, which began having meetings a year ago, "while Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous meetings are well attended, Gambling Anonymous is still in its fledgling stage. Stigma, fear of being exposed and denial come in the way of people stepping out and admitting they have a problem and need help."

SBK Singh, Joint Commissioner, Crime, New Delhi, points out that gambling per se is not an offence, but if in a public place it is. Also, with the coming of the Justice Juvenile Act, one cannot arrest those less than 18 years of age. The solution lies within society and family. Parents have to put pressure on their children and wards to explain and demonstrate to them the consequences of their actions. They have to be the first counsellors.

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