Treatment for Problem Gambling
This program provides education and treatment on the growing issue of Problem Gambling with seniors in the Coachella Valley. Seniors often treat loneliness and depression with gambling and create mental health, financial, and health problems as a direct result of the financial losses. The accessibility of the five gaming casinos in the Coachella Valley is a factor, as is the increasing number of seniors, many on a fixed income. Seniors that are problem gamblers may refinance their homes, take out reverse mortgages, take cash advances on their credit cards or take out a home equity loan to pay for their gambling losses.
Treatment
Desert Samaritans and the California Council on Problem Gambling have partnered to train professional counselors to learn how to treat problem gamblers. Seniors will receive free or low cost treatment as the counselors must conduct supervised treatment sessions.
Seniors can call the CCPG at 888-250-2282 to schedule a free session with one of the counselors. Seniors can receive up to ten sessions, with a small co-pay of $10 per session.. Counselors are also available at local senior centers and through social service agencies.
There are 40,000 households in the Coachella Valley with someone over 60 living there from the latest U.S. Census. A study published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry in January 2005 concluded that 70% of seniors reported gambling in the past year and 11% were “at-risk”. Using these figures, there are 4,400 seniors “at-risk” in the Coachella Valley. The study also reported that 20% of problem gamblers would attempt suicide. A 1999 study by the National Gaming Impact Study Commission stated that seniors living within 50 miles of a casino are twice as likely to develop a gambling problem.
