Gambling until the credit cards are maxed out

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This article was published 23/11/2017 (2901 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Long Zhou would go to the casino and tell himself the money in his pocket was all he’d spend.

But when he exhausted at least the thousand in cash he carried, he stopped at a bank machine.

“I’d take another $400 out until I reached my limit,” he said, “and then I used another credit card.”

Whatever card he could take money out of, Zhou used it.

Now 29, Zhou admits, with revealing candour, he’s lost his savings at least four times because he couldn’t escape his games, either Texas hold ‘em or blackjack.

He’d say he’d quit and then he’d relapse, again and again.

From 2014 until this summer, he’s lost some $80,000.

He’d play in the summer, yet abstain every other month of the year.

“Before I wanted to make money on gambling,” he said. “I always thought if I can strike once, if I get lucky once, make a million dollars, then my life can be turned around.”

Zhou, a fourth-year psychology student at Brandon University, chose to share his tale of gambling addiction after reading in Westman This Week earlier this month about Don Blackburn, a 55-year-old who’s lost the roof over his head more than once because of an addiction that’s fractured relationships with his family.

“Many times, I’ve felt like Don,” Zhou shared. “Powerless, addicted; I didn’t see a future.”

Zhou hopes his story, and the tips that’s helped him stay away, might help other people.

His association with gambling began young, growing up in China.

Gambling’s illegal in the country, but remains widely practiced. He saw the games with his own eyes, tagging along as his father and grandfather gambled.

As a teenager, Zhou developed the same habits. He played poker with his peers, where the stakes were small because finances were nominal. Still, he got hooked. He’d skip classes, sometimes, to play computer games. It’s one of his biggest regrets, wasting years of his education.

At 18, he arrived in Manitoba with his mother, who married a Canadian. This became Zhou’s fresh start. Committed, he studied English and within a few years, by 2010, was admitted to BU. His transcript sparkled. He made the honour roll, earned plenty of As and was granted a scholarship for his second year.

That was until he visited a casino at the West Edmonton Mall in summer 2011.

By the fall, he quit university entirely. He would make it as a professional poker player, he figured.

“My mom was really, really sad,” Zhou remembered. “My mom cried a lot, she was so disappointed.”

He’d never play the slots, but Texas hold ‘em. He’d mainly play online, but sometimes got his kicks driving to Winnipeg casinos, sometimes a few times a week.

Forty hours he’d spend playing and studying a week. “At least,” he said.

He was never addicted back then, but determined.

“Like in university, I studied textbooks, but when I devoted my life to poker, I bought poker textbooks.”

After he lost $20,000 over the span of a year, depleting his funds, he quit. He worked as a vehicle salesman to make money, but ventured into gambling on evenings. His available time was limited so he gambled less.

Still, he came up against trouble.

He voluntarily banned himself from a casino when he lost $6,000 to $7,000 a sitting. A year later, he completed an online course so he could return.

When he returned to university in 2014, he had the self-control to avoid gambling during the busy academic year.

In the summers, with more free time, he relented. There’s no doubt he was addicted now.

“I figured if I’d go big at a major tournament, I’d turn myself around.”

Instead, he gambled until the losses became so severe, or his credit cards maxed out.

During these years, he became a real estate agent, his current profession. That was the income he’d lose.

His last time gambling was a trip to Las Vegas this summer. When he bowed out of a World Series of Poker tournament, he stuck around the city, losing $25,000.

Now in his fourth year studying psychology, he’s chosen to further study gaming. He understands his addiction better than before. It’s changed his mindset. He will never play poker for the money, once his motivation, but because he enjoys the skill it takes.

He’s hopeful when summer comes around, he’ll feel the same way.

Zhou’s taken steps to prevent addiction. He’s cancelled credit cards, his girlfriend controls his purse strings and he’s self-excluded himself from two casinos.

He encourages others to follow similar approaches, and to deeply study gambling and the impact it can hold on one’s mind. This research helped him adjust his attitude.

Should he continue studying psychology as a graduate student, he expects to focus on addictions. He wants to help others in the way his research aided him.

The honours thesis he’s working on delves into the effect Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries’ gambling intervention program has on people’s behaviour and cognition.

“I spend a fair amount of time thinking about my life daily,” he said, introspectively. “If I have money now, I wouldn’t be happy. I want to do something meaningful, and meaningful right now is keep studying and use your education to combat addiction.”

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