Gamblers Anonymous (GA) and Gam-Anon
GA and Gam-Anon provide Twelve Step programs in the Phoenix area for problem gamblers and affected family members.
Gamblers Anonymous (GA)
In 1957 two men met by chance in Los Angeles. They shared similar and troubling stories of an obsession to gamble. They began meeting together and realized that after a few months that neither one of them had gone back to gambling. Since the first official Gamblers Anonymous group met in LA in 1957, GA groups have spread throughout the world.
This is information about GA groups taken from the Gamblers Anonymous website:
“Gamblers Anonymous is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from a gambling problem.
“The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop gambling. There are no dues or fees for Gamblers Anonymous membership; we are self-supporting through our own contributions. Gamblers Anonymous is not allied with any sect, denomination, politics, organization or institution; does not wish to engage in any controversy; neither endorses nor opposes any cause. Our primary purpose is to stop gambling and to help other compulsive gamblers do the same.”
GA in Arizona
Gamblers Anonymous Arizona/Phoenix Website. The GA Phoenix website contains the meeting schedules for all of Arizona.
GA Phoenix Valley Hotline: 602-266-9784
GA Bullhead City Hotline: (928) 763-0888
GA Tucson Hotline: (520) 570-7879
Arizona Spanish Hotline: (888) 665-8346 (888 NO-JUEGO)
Are You A Compulsive Gambler?
One of the helpful resources GA provides on its website is what is known as GA’s “Twenty Questions.” You may answer the questions online to help you decide if you are a compulsive gambler and want to stop gambling.
Gam-Anon
If you aren’t a gambler but someone close to you is, Gam-Anon is a helpful resource.
This information about Gam-Anon is taken from the Gam-Anon website:
“Gam-Anon is a 12 Step self-help fellowship of men and women who have been affected by the gambling problem of a loved one. We understand as perhaps few can. We are familiar with worry and sleepless nights and promises made only to be broken. The message of Gam-Anon is: Come join with us. We too were alone, afraid, and unable to cope with the deterioration in our relationships, the financial problems, and the debt caused by the gambling problem. We know that living with the effects of a loved one’s gambling can be too devastating to bear without help. Through Gam-Anon we find our way back to a normal way of thinking and living whether or not our loved ones continue to gamble.”
Gam-Anon in Arizona
Gam-Anon Meeting Information
Gam-Anon Information, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe: 602-579-0016
Gam-Anon Twenty Questions
If there is a gambling problem in your home, the Gam-Anon family group may be able to help you cope with it. If you are living with a problem/compulsive gambler, you will answer “YES” to at least six of the following questions.
- Do you find yourself constantly bothered by bill collectors?
- Is the person in question often away from home for long, unexplained periods of time?
- Does this person ever lose time from work due to gambling?
- Do you feel that this person cannot be trusted with money?
- Does the person in question faithfully promise that he or she will stop gambling; beg, plead for another chance, yet gamble again and again?
- Does this person ever gamble longer than he or she intended to, until the last dollar is gone?
- Does this person immediately return to gambling to try to recover losses, or to win more?
- Does this person ever gamble to get money to solve financial difficulties or have unrealistic expectations that gambling will bring the family material comfort and wealth?
- Does this person borrow money to gamble with or to pay gambling debts?
- Has this person’s reputation ever suffered due to gambling, even to the extent of committing illegal acts to finance gambling?
- Have you come to the point of hiding money needed for living expenses, knowing that you and the rest of the family may go without food and clothing if you do not?
- Do you search this person’s clothing or go through his or her wallet when the opportunity presents itself, or otherwise check on his/her activities?
- Does the person in question hide his or her money?
- Have you noticed a personality change in the gambler as his or her gambling progresses?
- Does the person in question consistently lie to cover up or deny his or her gambling activities?
- Does this person use guilt induction as a method of shifting responsibilities for his or her gambling upon you?
- Do you attempt to anticipate this person’s moods, or try to control his or her life?
- Does this person ever suffer from remorse or depression due to gambling, sometimes to the point of self-destruction?
- Has the gambling ever brought you to the point of threatening to break up the family unit?
- Do you feel that your life together is a nightmare?