By Melynda Litchfield
June 23, 2014
After walking just 20 feet into the casino with a friend, I excused myself and vomited. The smells, sounds and sights of the casino came flooding back. Exhilaration, hope, hours lost in the “zone,” then — as always — defeat and despair.
In July of 2002, the Illinois Gaming Board launched a statewide voluntary self-exclusion program that allows people who have determined they are problem gamblers to exclude themselves from all Illinois casinos. On the strong urging of my Gamblers Anonymous sponsor, that was my mission that day.
I spotted the nearest security guard, who ironically was the one who welcomed me to the casino daily. “I need to place myself on the self-exclusion list,” I said flatly.
When I self-excluded myself in 2012, I joined the ranks of nearly 10,000 citizens in Illinois who admitted they are addicted to government-sponsored casinos.