GAMBLING ON THE GAME; FOR COMPULSIVE GAMBLERS, THE SUPERBOWL CAN TURN INTO THE "DESPERATION BOWL"

A couple of buddies place a friendly wager on the Super Bowl. Workers in an office throw in a buck or two apiece in the office pool on the big game. A college student calls a bookie and puts down a bet on his favorite team. It's a part of the Super Bowl tradition and is all in good fun.

It is also illegal.

"Because of the definition of gambling in Missouri, it is against the law to bet on sporting events," said Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney Morley Swingle. "It's against the law to bet on the Super Bowl because whether the Denver Broncos or the Atlanta Falcons win is not under your control."

Gambling is defined in Missouri state statute as risking something of value on the outcome of a contest of chance or on a future contingent event over which a person has no control. Because the casual spectator cannot control the outcome of a game, betting money on the sporting event is, by state definition, gambling.

Technically, Swingle said, even putting down a $1 bet in an office Super Bowl pool is illegal, and if a complaint were made, his office would need to investigate it and prosecute it. It is also a Class C misdemeanor that is usually handled with a small fine.

In fact, the only place in the United States where it is legal to place a bet on the Super Bowl is at the highly regulated casinos and sports betting parlors in Las Vegas. Nevada gaming officials said that in 1998, more than $77 million was bet on the game.

But the amount bet illegally on last year's game dwarfs the $77 million wagered in Las Vegas. Ed Looney, the executive director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling, said that a conservative estimate is $4 billion bet on the Super Bowl alone. Some estimates put the number at $5 billion or more, making the Super Bowl the single sporting event on which the most money is bet.

For most people who gamble, wagering on a sporting event or a game of chance is simply a matter of recreation. Looney said that 80 percent of all gamblers are considered recreational or social gamblers.

An additional 15 percent of gamblers do so on a more regular basis, Looney said, many of whom are considered professional gamblers. In Missouri, a "professional player" is defined as a person who gambles for his livelihood or who derives 20 percent of his income in a year from gambling.

Missouri law treats professional players differently from the casual player. If a professional player is caught gambling illegally in the state, he may be charged with a class D felony.

But others within the 15 percent are not professional gamblers, but problem gamblers. They are, Looney said, those whose bet go over the line, "wagering more than they can afford, sometimes borrowing heavily and causing problems in their lives."

Swingle said that though his office is not actively pursuing people to register complaints against gamblers, he does encourage family members of problem gamblers to report the illegal activity if the betting is causing problems for the family.

"If a family is having a situation where resources are being gambled away, they should consider reporting the gambling to law enforcement," Swingle said.

The remaining five percent of gamblers are those Looney calls compulsive or pathological gamblers, people for whom gambling becomes an obsession or an addiction.

Cape Girardeau counselors Hugh and Mati Stone, who have worked locally with compulsive gamblers, said the difference between a compulsive gambler and other types of gamblers is the feeling that he just can't quit.

"He may have won a large amount of money, but he continues to gamble because of grandiose thinking that the winning is based on skill," Mati Stone said. "And he may continue to play in spite of losses, often to the point of exhaustion of money."

Once they begin to lose, compulsive gamblers often bet more and more money, trying to make up the losses with one big bet. Experts call it "chasing."

"Even though they're losing, they're always chasing rainbows," said Hugh Stone.

As the gambling becomes a preoccupation, the compulsive gambler begins borrowing and betting money he does not have, sometimes racking up tremendous credit card debt and leaving bills unpaid. The gambler spends increasing time outside the home and away from his job, covering up the betting and hiding the debts.

When he inevitably loses, the increased pressure of debts lead many to stealing money and others to thought of suicide and homicide, the Stones said.

In one case the Stones encountered a family in which the husband was gambling compulsively for a long time and the wife helped by paying the bills. But the situation came to a crisis point when in one evening the man lost $10,000 at a nearby casino.

"For a long time, they had been absorbing the losses, shifting the debt from one credit card to another, but the amount of debt in one evening brought it to a head," said Hugh Stone.

In fact, many organizations are beginning to question the assumption that illegal gambling is a "victimless" crime. The Council on Compulsive Gambling has said that 90 percent of all compulsive gamblers turn to crime to support their habits, including stealing, embezzling, writing bad checks and committing insurance fraud. Up to 80 percent contemplate suicide and 14 percent actually attempt to kill themselves.

Looney, the council director, said that this time of year is especially difficult for compulsive gamblers. His organization, which runs a national hotline for compulsive gamblers, will see an increase in calls following the Super Bowl when people realize the amount of money that they have lost on the game.

"If Sunday is Super Sunday for football fans, the day after is Blue Monday for many compulsive gamblers," Looney said.

Looney calls the Super Bowl "the Desperation Bowl" because many compulsive gamblers who have lost a lot of money during the regular season will try to win it all back on one day, often times betting 10 times as much as their typical wager, feeling that they must win this one last game.

Last year, Looney said, the hotline received a call from a 37-year-old salesman who had embezzled $8,500 from his employer and bet the money with several different bookies on the game. He lost most of it.

"A lot of people ask us for money, which we won't give them," Looney said. "We will try to get them help."

But help is not always easy to find. In Southeast Missouri there are no chapters of Gamblers Anonymous meeting. The Community Counseling Center often refers people to the nearest chapters of GA -- two hours away in St. Louis.

Although figures indicate that the percentage of compulsive gamblers is higher with people under 21 years of age -- eight percent as compared to five percent -- and although betting on college campuses has reached epidemic proportions according to some reports, Southeast Missouri State University does not have any program set up to deal specifically with gambling.

The university is not alone. Arnie Wexler, a recovering gambler who has presented workshops and seminars nationwide on compulsive gambling issues for the last 25 years, has said there are only a handful of colleges that take a proactive role about gambling education and prevention. Only one, Texas Tech University, has a Gamblers Anonymous chapter meeting on campus, Wexler said.

"Part of the problem with gambling is that it's so hidden," said Mati Stone. "People don't make it a habit to discuss finances. They're ashamed of it and don't talk about it."

Drug or alcohol abuse is easier to identify, she said, because there are often physical signs of abuse. In addition, there is drug testing which can show if a person has been using illegal substances.

"There's no such thing for a compulsive gambler. It's not as easily detected," she said.

There are behavioral changes that can be observed if one is looking for them, but they are often overlooked.

"It's easier to cover up compulsive gambling," said Hugh Stone.