Canada: Man's suicide a wakeup call about gambling, widow warns

Here is an article from Canada's Globe and Mail titled Man's suicide a wakeup call about gambling, widow warns. (Thanks to Sol Boxenbaum for emailing me this article.)

Here is the article in full.

GG

Man’s suicide a wakeup call about gambling, widow warns
Husband who could not beat addiction to video lottery terminals killed himself
By TU THANH HA, Friday, November 12, 2004 - Page A8, Globe and Mail

MONTREAL -- They met as teenagers at a dance at the local parish and had been together for 38 years, 34 of them as husband and wife.
Today, Lucie Viel is widowed and burdened with Richard Cassista's gambling debts.

With a final profession of love for her in a heart-wrenching suicide note, Ms. Viel's husband killed himself this summer, saying he could no longer endure his addiction to video lottery terminals.

Ms. Viel has gone public with her story, hoping to get help from authorities and giving a rare, dramatic look at the sufferings triggered by gambling addiction.

The 54-year-old retired Quebec-City-area woman turned to the media this week after trying in vain for weeks to contact Quebec Finance Minister Yves Séguin, whose department is responsible for sanctioned gambling in the province.

Since the media heard of her story, Mr. Séguin has called Ms. Viel and promised to meet her next week to see whether any existing foundations can help her.

"They're taking advantage of people to fill their pockets, without thinking of people who could kill themselves," Ms. Viel said in an interview yesterday.

Video lottery terminals contributed $706-million in net income to the Quebec treasury last year.

In interviews and in an open letter to newspapers, Ms. Viel detailed the troubles she and her husband went through.

Since Mr. Cassista died in June, Ms. Viel has been saddled with $48,000 he left in debts.

This includes an unexpected $18,000 credit card bill that a friend brought. Mr. Cassista used to have his MasterCard bills sent to a different address to hide from his wife the depth of his problems.

Scanning through the credit card bill, Ms. Viel saw that most of it consisted of ATM withdrawals from sites near places with VLTs, such as local bars.

She even visited those bars and recalled seeing glazed-eyed gamblers transfixed by their terminals.

"I found it sad. I pictured Richard playing there. It was an obsession. I was seeing it in the eyes of those people there," she said.

The note her husband left makes his feelings clear. Mr. Cassista, a factory administrator, had undertaken therapy to address his addiction but to little effect.

"I can't go on living any more. It's too much," he said at the end in his five-page handwritten note.

"I know it's cowardly but I can't bear it any more. Video poker [machines] in Quebec have been my death. I ask Minister Séguin to react to those many suicides, including mine."

It is estimated that on average, 30 Quebeckers kill themselves each year because of gambling problems.

Quebec has more than 14,000 VLTs in 3,663 bars and restaurants. Mr. Séguin has talked about reducing the number in local bars and eateries to concentrate them in new "racinos," which combine racetracks and other types of gambling.

A study released recently says that a tiny minority of VLT players -- 8 per cent -- are compulsive gamblers who fork out the bulk of the gambling profit: $400-million.

That amount is more than profits from all three of the province's casinos combined, says the study by Serge Chevalier of Quebec's Institut national de santé publique, the provincial public health agency.

Ms. Viel said several acquaintances have come forward since her husband's death to confess that they too are addicted to VLTs.

She is attending a support group for people with relatives who committed suicide because of a gambling addiction.

Out of 10 people, three are spouses whose husbands killed themselves.

"That's a lot, three women out of 10. It's things like that that pushed me into going public."